Click to view our Dermatology professionals:
Dr. Vincent Defalque
Dermatology
…
The Dermatology Service offers a comprehensive approach to the field of veterinary dermatology. We offer the best in clinical dermatology in a multi-specialty hospital environment. This enables us to work closely with a team of fellow specialists to diagnose and manage a wide variety of conditions in dogs and cats.
This service offers three subspecialty clinics:
- The allergy clinic specializes in the management of allergic skin diseases, especially atopic dermatitis and food allergies.
- The dermatology clinic specializes in the diagnosis and management of non- allergic skin diseases.
- The ear clinic specializes in the diagnosis and management of chronic or recurrent ear infections (otitis).
Staff:
Technician
Assistant
The allergy clinic
Our dermatologist specializes in the management of dogs and cats with allergic skin diseases:
- Environmental allergies to dust mites, danders, pollens and molds
- Food allergies
- Allergies due to the bites of insects such as fleas and mosquitoes
Our clinician performs the following:
- Intradermal allergy testing for atopic dermatitis with 48 allergenic extracts
- Allergen specific immunotherapy (formulation and ordering of vaccine for the treatment of atopic dermatitis)
- Serum allergy testing for atopic dermatitis
Click here for our brochure on allergy testing
We also offer:
- Food elimination trials (commercial diets and formulation of home-cooked diets)
- Flea combing
- Rush Immunotherapy
Rush immunotherapy is an accelerated desensitization schedule allowing the patient to reach the maintenance dose more quickly. If a pet’s level of discomfort is extreme, it could be beneficial to quicken the injection schedule. In other circumstances, some pet owners may not be able to administer the injections themselves or it may be difficult for them to bring the pet to your clinic every other day for the first 2 months of treatment (i.e. traditional protocol for subcutaneous injections). Rush Immunotherapy protocols have been shown to be safe and effective. Such protocols must be administered at Canada West Veterinary Specialists.
The dermatology clinic
Dr. Defalque specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of dogs and cats with non- allergic diseases:
- Skin infections (pyoderma due to Staphylococci and other bacteria, including the antibiotic-resistant strains as well as ringworm, Malassezia dermatitis and other fungal infections)
- Parasitic skin diseases (demodicosis, scabies, lice, cheyletiellosis etc.)
- Auto-immune skin diseases (pemphigus foliaceus etc.)
- Skin cancers and cutaneous paraneoplastic syndromes
- Hair loss (alopecia)
- Feet and footpads diseases (pododermatitis)
- Nail disorders
- “Hot spots” (acute moist dermatitis), acral lick dermatitis
- Cutaneous drug reactions
- Genetic/congenital skin diseases
- Endocrine/ metabolic skin diseases (Cushings disease, Hypothyroidism)
- Referral to the Internal Medicine Service for medical management of endocrine and neoplastic disorders
Our clinician performs the following:
- Skin biopsies (most biopsies do not require general anesthesia)
- Skin cytology, including fine needle aspirate of nodules
- Skin bacterial culture and susceptibility testing
- Skin fungal culture
- Acetate tape preparation
- Skin scraping, trichogram
- Wood’s lamp examination
- Hormone level testing to evaluate hormonal causes of skin diseases
- Multi-drug resistance (MDR-1) genetic testing for avermectin sensitive breeds
The ear clinic
The goal of this specialized clinic is to assist the referring veterinarian in the diagnosis and management of chronic or recurrent ear infections (otitis externa and media) in dogs and cats:
- Clinical evaluation of ears
- Identification and management of underlying cutaneous or systemic disorders
Our clinician performs the following:
- Ear cytology
- Ear bacterial culture and susceptibility testing
- Ear flushing and cleaning under general anesthesia
- Video-otoscopic ear examination/myringotomy
Dr Defalque’s experience with managing chronic ear problems and access to specialized equipment such as the video-otoscope enables us to thoroughly assess and treat chronic and difficult ear infections in pets. Video-otoscopy is performed using an otoscope, camera, light source and monitor. The ear canal and the ear drum are brightly illuminated and magnified, enabling us to clearly visualize these parts of the ear. With a special attachment, suction and saline can be used to completely clean the ear in a patient that is anesthetized. Foreign objects, debris and parasites can be removed from the ear using tiny grasping forceps. Certain surgical procedures such as ear biopsies or myringotomies (sampling of the middle ear through a small incision in the eardrum) can also be performed.
- Medical imaging (radiographic evaluation of ear canals / middle ear, CT scan evaluation of middle ear)
- Referral to the Surgery Service for surgical correction of chronic ear problems (total ear canal ablation/ bulla osteotomy, excision of polyps or tumors of ear canal)
Links
Downloadable Forms
Download