Eye Troubles.

[bartholomew101]

I have no idea what is going on with my chameleon's eye. He is not closing it all the way when cleaning his eyes or whatever. The other day he had dirt in his eye and i have no idea how it got there. I could see the dirt and see it irritating him so I gently rinsed his eye with luke warm water. (put it in my hand and dripped tiny drips near his eye) His eye is still irritating him and he attempts to close it often.He has been a little stressed as well. He also rubs it on his vines and things. Should I be concerned? Could it be that there is just some dirt still in his eyes? what can I do to help my little dude?

 

[bartholomew101]

he is eating regularly and drinking a lot as well. nothing out of the ordinary is going on except his eye.

 

[Lovereps]

Is able to close his eyes to sleep?

He may need just a bit more help in getting the dirt out of there.
I can think of 3 things you can try:

First you can try giving him very long mistings and maybe the trapped dirt will get flushed out.

Second, you can take a plant put it into the shower and aim a warm, not hot, shower spray at a wall, so that it bounces off and splashes the plant a bit and creates a misty environment.

lastly, get a sterile saline solution such as Bausch and Lomb Sensitive Eyes Plus and squirt it into his eye to try to fill it up and help him to flush out the debris.

If none of these things works, then a vet should be consulted before the debris causes an infection or damages his eye.

 

[bartholomew101]

it is almost closed. he is asleep now i can post a picture if you would like

 

[Stacey5089]

it is almost closed. he is asleep now i can post a picture if you would like

I would!!! I think the same thing might have happened to my female i havent actualy seen anything in therw but her eyes definetly irritated.

 

[Lovereps]

Better off leaving a cham to sleep, rather than risk startling them.

 

[bartholomew101]

Here is eye. Sorry it is not very good I don't want to wake him up

 

[camimom]

try getting some saline solution for contacts.

make sure the ingredient list on it says saline ONLY.

put a drop or two in the eye twice a day, and see if it helps any.

 

[bartholomew101]

Okay thanks!

 

[bartholomew101]

I will wait until his lights come back on in the morning. I don't want to disturb him.

 

[Lovereps]

I wouldn't let his eye remain that way for long--imagine how your eye would feel if it was unable to fully close all the time.
My concern is that his eye will get too dry and become damaged from the dryness, in addition to the fact that foreign debris in the eye will lead to an infection sooner or later.

I suspect that it would be more effective to douse the eye with saline rather than just adding a drop or two--but try the drop or two first and see if it does the job, if it isn't working then fill up the eye and see if he can get rid of the debris.
If the showers, mistings and saline rinses don't work to flush the debris out right away then I wouldn't delay getting to a vet who is very knowledgeable about reptiles.
Don't waste money on a vet without reptile expertise.

I hope all goes well and that he can expell the debris without a vet visit.
Please let us know how things go.

 

[bartholomew101]

Thank you guys for your help. We have a vet in town who specializes in primates and reptiles! After using the solution I realized that his inner eyelid was swelling and I didn't want him to loose the eye or worse fall ill. I took him to the vet they couldn't find any more debris but his eye is unfornuately infected. And they were happy I brought him in. It wasn't pussy or damaged severely. They gave him a shot and anti biotic eye drops. And they want to see him again in a week or so to be safe. After all, Bart is his vet's "favorite little reptile" and wouldn't want anything to happen to him.
Thank you guys so much for your help

Shelby

 

[Lovereps]

I'm very glad you took him to a good vet.
By getting him the antibiotics before the infection got the better of his eye, you have probably saved his eyesight.
Thanks for the update on Bart's health.
Hope he is all healed very soon.

 

[bartholomew101]

his eye is doing much much better! He's still not closing it all the way though i might take him back to the vet to be sure there is no damage to his outer lid. He did shed Saturday-Sunday; I am not sure that means anything.