Eye Shedding Problems

[aangb3nder]

Hey there.

My veiled chameleon has been having eye problems - I took her to the vet and they said she was one of the healthiest chams they'd seen, and I was doing a very good job with her. They gave me eye drops to put in her eyes four times a day, but right now she is in the process of shedding. I think some excess skin got caught over her eye, because it's puffy and it's bothering her. Should I let her rub the skin off, or should I try to rub it off with some warm water and my thumb? When this happened before I used a qtip, but the vet said not to do that anymore because the strands could get caught in her eye.

Any suggestions?
Thanks!

 

[Carlton]

Eye problems can be caused by several things including dehydration, vitamin deficiencies, an infection or some sort of irritant, as well as a difficult shed, so to rule them out we need more info. Please check the sticky message "how to ask for help" and answer the husbandry questions. Also, what drops did the vet give you and why did he suggest using that particular drop?

The first thing to do is increase your cage humidity and mist a lot more to help the shed and soothe eyes.

Squirting the eyes with sterile saline (no preservatives) can help rinse debris away without having to touch them.

If the eye is swollen, puffy or showing any discharge, with the lids stuck shut in the mornings there may be an infection going on.

 

[aangb3nder]

CHAM INFO:
Your Chameleon - Veiled, female, 2 and a half years.
Handling - Usually when I clean the cage or give her a bath. I take her out for a few minutes to ensure she is healthy and whatnot.
Feeding - 3 or 4 super worms everyday. I tried crickets but she couldn't catch them unless I beat them up.
Supplements - tetrafauna reptocal. It says it included calcium and vitamin D3. I dust lightly every other feeding.
Watering - I mist her cage thoroughly two to three times a day, I keep the humidity levels above 50%. Sometimes she drinks from the mistings, but she usually doesn't. I give her showers once ever couple of weeks, and I put ice on the top of her cage.
Fecal Description - She's never been tested for parasites. the only poop i see in her cage is a few days old, but it's a bit shrivelly so I'm not really sure as to whether or not i could provide a good and accurate description of it.

CAGE INFO:
Cage Type - It's a big screen and wood cage. The dimensions are something like 18 x 24 or something, I don't really recall what the actual dimensions are. Sometimes I feel like it's TOO big for her, though.
Lighting - her lights go on at 9 am and off at 9pm. I have a basking light by zoomed, its 75 watts and it's raised five-seven inches above her cage. I have two UVB bulbs. its exo-terra repti-glo, one is 5.0 26W uvb, and the other is a 10.0 26W uvb.
Temperature - Its 79 at the bottom of the cage, and86ish at the top of the cage, closest to the basking lamps. The lowest it's gotten to at night is the high 70s.
Humidity - I keep them above 50%, and I listed a description above as to what I do.
Plants - No live plants.
Placement - It's about a foot off the floor and next to my dresser behind my door, across from the bed.
Location - Live in Florida!



He suggested the drops in case of debris in the eye. They're Refresh eye drops.