Dog Entropion Surgery Cost in 2026: $125 to $3,000

A dog entropion surgery costs $125 to $3,000 in the United States, and $500 is the typical price. Regionally the typical price runs from $440 in the Midwest to $670 in California — a 1.5x spread for the same procedure.

Key facts

National price range
$125 to $3,000
Typical price
$500
Cheapest region in our data
Midwest, $440 typical
Priciest region in our data
California, $670 typical
Biggest single cost driver
General practice versus a board-certified ophthalmologist — The single largest factor and a 4x to 6x gap. MetLife publishes about $500 at the low end and $2,000 or more especially if a veterinary ophthalmologist performs the operation; Holly Vet Clinic (Kenmore, Washington) publishes $1,000-$3,000. Against that, published surgical-clinic fee schedules run $125-$250 (Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic, Indiana), $350 per eyelid (Shore Pet Surgery, Grasonville, Maryland) and $400 per eye (Michigan Pet Surgery)
Covered by pet insurance
Usually, under an accident-and-illness policy. 70-90% of the covered bill after the deductible, where the carrier covers hereditary conditions and the eyelids were not noted as abnormal before enrolment.
Prices last verified
2026-08-28

It is priced per eyelid, not per dog

Shore Pet Surgery in Grasonville, Maryland publishes $350 per eyelid and Michigan Pet Surgery $400 per eye. A dog needing both lids of both eyes corrected is four surgical sites, and the quote is built that way.

Holly Vet Clinic in Kenmore, Washington says so directly: its published $1,000 to $3,000 band depends on severity and on whether one or both eyelids need repair.

This is the single most common reason two quotes for "entropion surgery" are hundreds of dollars apart while describing the same dog. One is per site and one is a total.

Before comparing anything, establish how many lids the surgeon intends to operate on and whether the number you were given covers all of them.

The general practice and the specialist are four to six times apart

MetLife publishes about $500 at the general-practice end and $2,000 or more especially where a veterinary ophthalmologist performs the operation. The surgery does not change between those two invoices; the training behind it does.

The published fee schedules fill in the space underneath MetLife's floor. Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic in Indiana lists $125 to $250, Shore Pet Surgery $350 per eyelid and Michigan Pet Surgery $400 per eye.

At the top, Holly Vet Clinic publishes $1,000 to $3,000 for the same named procedure at a full-service hospital.

What the specialist premium buys is judgement about how much tissue to take. The American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists notes that advanced entropion in older animals requires more permanent surgical correction, and an under-corrected lid that has to be revised costs you the first surgery twice.

The breeds that need this most are excluded from the cheap price

Shore Pet Surgery's $350 per eyelid does not apply to shar peis or bulldogs, which require a pre-operative consultation instead. Michigan Pet Surgery excludes shar pei breeds from its $300 to $400 per-eye fee outright.

Deeply folded faces need more tissue removed and the repair is often staged over more than one procedure. A flat fee written for a Labrador does not describe that work.

This is unusual and worth naming: it is rare for a US veterinary price list to publish a breed carve-out at all. Two of the five in this record do.

If you own one of those breeds, the low end of the range on this page is not a price you will be quoted. Start from the consultation and expect a figure built for your dog.

Puppy tacking is cheaper, and often the first of two operations

The American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists notes that advanced entropion in older animals needs more permanent surgical correction. In a growing puppy the usual approach is temporary tacking sutures that hold the lid out while the face finishes developing.

Tacking is the cheaper procedure, and sometimes it is all that is needed. Sometimes the lid rolls back in once the sutures come out and a permanent correction follows.

Budget for the possibility of both rather than treating the first quote as the total. The second procedure carries its own anaesthetic, its own bloodwork and its own theatre time.

Does every dog with entropion need surgery?

No. MetLife notes that secondary entropion can be caused by trauma, infection or scarring, and that a painful eye condition such as a corneal ulcer can make a dog squint hard enough to roll the lid inward temporarily.

That case needs the underlying problem treated first. The lid may return to normal on its own, and the surgery may not be needed at all.

The distinction is made at an eye examination, which is the cheapest money on this page. A $285 complete ophthalmic examination at Eye-Vet, with slit-lamp biomicroscopy, indirect ophthalmoscopy and tonometry, is a small fraction of a $3,000 correction that was never indicated.

What else lands on the invoice

Pre-anaesthetic bloodwork runs $90 to $225 and is mandatory at most of these clinics — Shore Pet Surgery requires it over seven years of age, Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic at eight and older, and Pet Dental USA in Arizona publishes $125 to $225.

Take-home medication is small: $14 to $18 for pain relief and $18 to $40 for antibiotics at the Indiana clinic.

Anaesthesia is the invisible line. Every clinic in our source set bundles it into the surgical fee, so a low quote may simply be a more inclusive one, and a high quote may not be.

The same clinics that publish these entropion fees also publish a dog cherry eye surgery cost, and comparing the two on one price sheet is the fastest way to see where a practice sits in the market.

Entropion is one of the few eye operations with a genuine cheap tier

The American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists restricts cataract surgery to ophthalmologists and residents in training. There is no cheaper venue for it and no general practice that will quote against a specialist.

Entropion carries no such restriction. It is corrected in general practice, at nonprofit surgical clinics and by board-certified ophthalmologists, and all three publish prices.

That is why this page spans 24x rather than the 2x a specialist-only procedure would. The spread is a menu, not an error.

The judgement call is where your dog belongs on it. A straightforward lower-lid correction in a young Labrador is routine general-practice surgery; a revision, a shar pei, or a lid already scarred by a chronic corneal ulcer is the case that justifies the specialist fee.

How the $500 typical on this page was built

There is no survey to take a national average from, so we built one from the published point estimates and are showing our work. Five figures went in: $187 at the Indiana nonprofit clinic, $350 per eyelid in Maryland, $400 per eye in Michigan, $500 for MetLife's general practice, and $2,000 to $3,000 for an ophthalmologist.

MetLife's $500 sits at the median of those five, which is why it is the typical price on this page rather than an average of the extremes.

The $125 floor and the $3,000 ceiling are both real published US prices — the bottom of the Indiana clinic's band and the top of Holly Vet Clinic's — rather than modelled endpoints.

Read the typical as the middle of a small set of real prices, not as a market average. Five clinics is not a survey, and we would rather say that than round it into one.

Why every regional row here is borrowed

No national survey of entropion prices exists. Nobody has run one, and the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists states it is not permitted to track pricing, so no specialist fee schedule exists to survey.

Every regional row on this page is therefore indexed rather than measured. It scales the national range by CareCredit's fifty-state cherry eye cost index — the nearest published ophthalmic geography we could find — which runs from $437 in Mississippi to $972 in Hawaii, a 2.2x spread.

Read those rows as a cost-of-practice signal, not as a local quote. The five published fee schedules above are the hard numbers on this page.

Entropion is one of five operations sharing the search term "dog eye surgery"; the dog eye surgery cost page prices them against each other and carries the canine cataract figures, and the vet cost index holds the rest of the surgical set.

Dog Entropion Surgery cost by region

These are the prices behind the range at the top of the page, one row per geography we could source. The basis column says how each row was arrived at.

Dog Entropion Surgery — typical cost by US region
Region (basis)LowTypicalHigh
Northeast (indexed)$140$540$3,240
Midwest (indexed)$110$440$2,640
South (indexed)$110$450$2,670
West (indexed)$130$510$3,050
California (indexed)$170$670$4,010
New York (indexed)$150$590$3,540
Texas (indexed)$110$440$2,660
Illinois (indexed)$110$450$2,710

published — a real price for that geography was found and cited. indexed — the national range scaled by a cited regional cost index, because no geography-specific price is published. 0 of 8 rows are published prices; 8 are indexed. Prices last verified 2026-08-28. Full sourcing in Sources.

How each regional row was sourced
Northeast (indexed)
No entropion price survey exists. The national range is scaled by the Northeast median of CareCredit's published 50-state cherry eye index, 1.08x - the nearest published ophthalmic geography.
Midwest (indexed)
National range scaled by the Midwest median of CareCredit's published 50-state cherry eye index, 0.88x.
South (indexed)
National range scaled by the South median of CareCredit's published 50-state cherry eye index, 0.89x.
West (indexed)
National range scaled by the West median of CareCredit's published 50-state cherry eye index, 1.02x.
California (indexed)
National range scaled by California's 1.34x on CareCredit's published 50-state cherry eye index.
New York (indexed)
National range scaled by New York's 1.18x on CareCredit's published 50-state cherry eye index.
Texas (indexed)
National range scaled by Texas's 0.89x on CareCredit's published 50-state cherry eye index.
Illinois (indexed)
National range scaled by Illinois's 0.90x on CareCredit's published 50-state cherry eye index.

What changes the price

Two invoices for the same procedure diverge for a small number of reasons. These are the ones that move the total most.

General practice versus a board-certified ophthalmologist
The single largest factor and a 4x to 6x gap. MetLife publishes about $500 at the low end and $2,000 or more especially if a veterinary ophthalmologist performs the operation; Holly Vet Clinic (Kenmore, Washington) publishes $1,000-$3,000. Against that, published surgical-clinic fee schedules run $125-$250 (Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic, Indiana), $350 per eyelid (Shore Pet Surgery, Grasonville, Maryland) and $400 per eye (Michigan Pet Surgery)
It is priced per eyelid, and most dogs need more than one
Shore Pet Surgery quotes $350 per eyelid and Michigan Pet Surgery $400 per eye. Holly Vet Clinic states its $1,000-$3,000 range depends on severity and whether one or both eyelids need repair. A bilateral, upper-and-lower correction is four surgical sites and is priced that way
Breed
Shar peis and bulldogs are excluded from Shore Pet Surgery's published entropion price and require a pre-operative consultation; Michigan Pet Surgery excludes shar pei breeds from its $300-$400 per-eye fee outright. Deeply folded faces need more tissue removed and often a staged repair, so the flat-fee price simply does not apply
Primary or secondary entropion
MetLife notes secondary entropion can be caused by trauma, infection or scarring, and that a painful eye condition such as a corneal ulcer can make a dog squint so hard the lid rolls in temporarily. That case needs the underlying problem treated first, and the surgery may not be needed at all
Severity and age
The American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists notes that advanced entropion in older animals needs more permanent surgical correction. Puppy entropion is often managed with temporary tacking sutures until the face finishes growing - cheaper, but a second procedure later is common
State cost level
The same 2.2x geographic spread CareCredit measures on cherry eye - $437 in Mississippi to $972 in Hawaii - applies to eyelid surgery done by the same practices

What the itemized invoice looks like

Clinics quote a bundled number and itemize afterwards. This is the decomposition, so you can read a real estimate line by line before you sign it.

Dog Entropion Surgery — what an itemized invoice looks like
Line itemLowHigh
Examination or ophthalmic consultation
$50 for a pre-surgical exam at nonprofit clinics (Pets Inc., South Carolina); Eye-Vet publishes $285 for a complete ophthalmic examination of both eyes with slit-lamp biomicroscopy, indirect ophthalmoscopy and tonometry (updated 15 January 2026)
$50$285
Entropion correction at a high-volume nonprofit clinic
Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic, Brownsburg and Noblesville, Indiana
$125$250
Entropion correction in general practice, per eyelid or per eye
Shore Pet Surgery (Grasonville, Maryland) $350 per eyelid, shar peis and bulldogs excluded; Michigan Pet Surgery $400 per eye, shar peis excluded; MetLife publishes about $500 at the general-practice end
$350$500
Entropion correction by a board-certified ophthalmologist
MetLife publishes $2,000 or more with a veterinary ophthalmologist; Holly Vet Clinic (Kenmore, Washington) publishes $1,000-$3,000 depending on severity and how many lids are repaired
$1,000$3,000
General anesthesia, IV fluids and monitoring
Bundled into the surgical fee at every clinic in our source set - Shore Pet Surgery states its published prices include the procedure, IV fluids and medications as needed. Estimated here as a share of that bundle
$100$600
Pre-anesthetic bloodwork
Required over 7 years of age at Shore Pet Surgery; Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic (Indiana) $90 for animals 8 and older, Pet Dental USA (Arizona) $125-$225
$90$225
Take-home eye drops, pain relief and antibiotics
Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic (Indiana) publishes $14-$18 for pain medication and $18-$40 for antibiotics
$14$40

Not every line appears on every invoice — practices bundle differently, and some of these are only billed when the procedure turns up something. Sourcing for each figure is in Sources.

Does pet insurance cover dog entropion surgery?

Dog Entropion Surgery is normally covered by a standard accident-and-illness policy. Primary entropion is hereditary and breed-linked, so it is paid only by carriers that cover hereditary and congenital conditions that were not pre-existing - and it usually shows up young, which is exactly when a policy is newest. Secondary entropion caused by trauma, scarring or a painful eye condition is normally claimable as accident or illness treatment instead, which is a materially easier claim. MetLife publishes a claim example: Maggie, a four-year-old golden retriever in Wisconsin, had entropion surgery with an ophthalmologist costing about $3,000 and her owners were reimbursed just under $2,500.

What you would get back: 70-90% of the covered bill after the deductible, where the carrier covers hereditary conditions and the eyelids were not noted as abnormal before enrolment.

Coverage rules differ enough between carriers that the only useful answer is a side-by-side: our pet insurance comparison for dog entropion surgery shows which policies pay for it, what the waiting period is, and what counts as pre-existing.

Common questions

How much does dog entropion surgery cost?

A dog entropion surgery costs $125 to $3,000 in the United States, and $500 is the typical price. Surgical correction of an inward-rolling eyelid in a dog, priced per eyelid rather than per dog - which is why a two-lid, one-eye repair and a four-lid correction sit at opposite ends of the same quote sheet.

Does pet insurance cover dog entropion surgery?

Primary entropion is hereditary and breed-linked, so it is paid only by carriers that cover hereditary and congenital conditions that were not pre-existing - and it usually shows up young, which is exactly when a policy is newest. Secondary entropion caused by trauma, scarring or a painful eye condition is normally claimable as accident or illness treatment instead, which is a materially easier claim. MetLife publishes a claim example: Maggie, a four-year-old golden retriever in Wisconsin, had entropion surgery with an ophthalmologist costing about $3,000 and her owners were reimbursed just under $2,500.

Why do dog entropion surgery quotes vary so much?

General practice versus a board-certified ophthalmologist: The single largest factor and a 4x to 6x gap. MetLife publishes about $500 at the low end and $2,000 or more especially if a veterinary ophthalmologist performs the operation; Holly Vet Clinic (Kenmore, Washington) publishes $1,000-$3,000. Against that, published surgical-clinic fee schedules run $125-$250 (Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic, Indiana), $350 per eyelid (Shore Pet Surgery, Grasonville, Maryland) and $400 per eye (Michigan Pet Surgery) It is priced per eyelid, and most dogs need more than one: Shore Pet Surgery quotes $350 per eyelid and Michigan Pet Surgery $400 per eye. Holly Vet Clinic states its $1,000-$3,000 range depends on severity and whether one or both eyelids need repair. A bilateral, upper-and-lower correction is four surgical sites and is priced that way Breed: Shar peis and bulldogs are excluded from Shore Pet Surgery's published entropion price and require a pre-operative consultation; Michigan Pet Surgery excludes shar pei breeds from its $300-$400 per-eye fee outright. Deeply folded faces need more tissue removed and often a staged repair, so the flat-fee price simply does not apply

Where is dog entropion surgery cheapest?

Of the 8 areas in our data, the Midwest is the cheapest at $440 typical and California the most expensive at $670. National range scaled by California's 1.34x on CareCredit's published 50-state cherry eye index.

Does every dog with entropion need surgery?

No. MetLife notes that secondary entropion can be caused by trauma, infection or scarring, and that a painful eye condition such as a corneal ulcer can make a dog squint hard enough to roll the lid inward temporarily.

Why a pet needs dog entropion surgery

The pages below are the reasons this bill happens. Each one carries the same price data you are reading, in the context of the problem that produces it.

Conditions treated with dog entropion surgery

  • dog eye allergies Can be an emergency A red, weeping, itchy eye is what owners call an eye allergy, and environmental irritants and allergens genuinely are, in Merck's words, common causes of conjunctivitis in all species.

Every procedure we have priced is listed on the vet cost index.

Sources

  1. Eyelid Entropion in Dogs MetLife Pet Insurance, 2026.
  2. Pricing for Pet Surgical Services Shore Pet Surgery, Grasonville, Maryland, 2026.
  3. Services and Pricing Michigan Pet Surgery, 2026.
  4. Additional Surgeries - Eye Surgery Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic, Brownsburg and Noblesville, Indiana, 2026.
  5. Advanced Surgery Costs Holly Vet Clinic, Kenmore, Washington, 2026.
  6. Veterinary Ophthalmology FAQs American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists, 2024.
  7. How Much Does Cherry Eye Surgery Cost? CareCredit (Synchrony), 2025.
  8. Cost and Payment Eye-Vet Veterinary Ophthalmology, 2026.
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