Eyelid Swelling

[leanna156]

He now has a corneal ulcer. His eye is in danger of rupturing. If it ruptures it supposedly won't hurt anymore but we have to be very careful of infections. I feel so bad for him. He could lose that eye completely.

On Saturday I noticed a small scratch on his eye. I made a vet appointment for today at 8:30 pm, which was the soonest I could get him in. When I got home from work tonight his eye had a larger bubble on it and the pupil was even misshapen. When he got to the vet, the vet took one look at him and referred us to a different vet who is about an hour and a half away from here. This other vet is an exotics surgeon, but he is already closed for the day. I have to wait for tomorrow to make an appointment.

 

[leanna156]

My cham went to the specialist vet yesterday. This vet had a bunch of equipment to look in the eye, sort of like what optometrists for people have only smaller. There is "a chance" that we can save the eye. The blood vessels in his eye are swollen. I have to inject the antibiotic Fortaz every 48 hours. He said that there isn't much that can be done for the corneal ulcer: The eye will either rupture or get better.

A blood test said that he also has a vitamin A deficiency. He got a vitamin A injection while he was there as well.

 

[AndrewH]

Hey Leanna,

Sorry to hear about your cham.

here is another thread that might help lead to the culprit,

https://www.chameleonforums.com/please-help-12902/

hope this is the cause of your chams problems and that your cham will be alright with a simple fix.

 

[spatulars]

I'm so sorry about your chameleon's eye, I really do hope that it gets better.

 

[mika]

So sorry to hear your chams having eye problems. I hope everything turns out for the better...

Did the vet say how he could have gotten a corneal ulcer?

 

[leanna156]

So sorry to hear your chams having eye problems. I hope everything turns out for the better...

Did the vet say how he could have gotten a corneal ulcer?

Yes. His eye was bothering him from the original problem and he scratched it on something. The pressure inside of the eye is high enough to cause this weak spot/scratch in the cornea to bulge out and threaten to rupture. Corneal ulcer is the name of this kind of injury. Now his eye might pop. I don't know what he would have scratched it on. He has the smooth fake vines and 2 plants in his cage. The cage itself doesn't have sharp spots. My guess is a plant or his own foot. I had scheduled the vet visit earlier this week after I noticed the scratch and before it was bulging. The day of the appointment is when the bulging appeared.

 

[leanna156]

Hey Leanna,

Sorry to hear about your cham.

here is another thread that might help lead to the culprit,

https://www.chameleonforums.com/please-help-12902/

hope this is the cause of your chams problems and that your cham will be alright with a simple fix.

Thanks. He does have a ficus in there. I can switch it out with an umbrella plant that I use for outdoor basking. It's worth a try.

 

[VerteX]

Aegean

It's this awesome kid having problems. He has an adorable personality.

He'll be receiving his second shot of Fortaz (eeek) tomorrow, while a blood culture is hopefully going to come back with a positive id of the real underlying cause.

V

 

[mika]

Hi, thanks for the info. I truly hope his eye does not pop

I'm treating my cham for URI right now & whenever I need help with something I usually read the threads posted by others.

Threads like this are helpful especially when someone also encounters the same problem.

Please keep us posted on his status. Good luck & I hope it turns out for the better

 

[leanna156]

He has had at home injections twice now. They are given in the muscle in his front arms, alternating arms. His eye still looks horrible but his appetite has increased. He ate 2 large silkworms on his own this morning. I put them directly in front of him on the vine so he just had to open up and bite them. He doesn't have much luck with crickets anymore since he can't aim very well with one eye. He doesn't want to open the bad eye for tongue aiming purposes anymore. He only opened it while he was getting his shot. It's still misshapen and terrible-looking, but has not ruptured.

Thanks for the photos, Vertex.

When he's being injected he really fires up. He gets this great red pattern surrounding his eyes and the nearby area. He's beautiful.

 

[leanna156]

The vet just called to give results of the blood test from the other day. He found 2 types of bacteria: staph aureus and strep.

The vet was encouraged that his appetite has increased. If he doesn't continue to improve the vet may add an additional antibiotic.

 

[mika]

He's a fighter all right! I hope he continues to improve.

Are his colors better? Do you see any improvement with the eye?

Is the eye worse than before or is it the same?

 

[AndrewH]

Did the vet have any thoughts on how he contracted the bacteria?

 

[leanna156]

His colors have been drab for a good month or two now, with the exception of traveling to the vet and getting injections at home. His left eye is closed all of the time so I can never get a good look at it. The last I saw it open was during yesterday morning's injection. It had not ruptured but was still misshapen. He holds it a little sunken in when it's closed.

We have no idea how he would have gotten the bacteria. I have always washed my hands before and after feeding, misting, touching, etc. I don't know anyone who has had staph or strep infections in years. I breed my own silkworms. I buy crickets directly from a breeder here in Cleveland. I don't know where it would have come from.

My other chams are healthy. I moved Aegean into my bedroom when I first started noticing a problem to separate his cage geographically from the others.

 

[leanna156]

His eye ruptured yesterday.

When I got home from work his eyelid was loose and there was sticky goo on the outside of it. He is alright, considering. He still ate 2 large silkworms this morning and got another shot. The vet said to watch for more eye oozing after the eye itself is done oozing because it could mean infection.

I feel horrible for him. I know that I did my best to save his eye so I don't have any regrets. I hope these injections make the strep and staph go away.

 

[bucky]

Ok...well ive had not the same exact problem, but a pretty darn close one. My panther had an eye problem, i recommend askign your vet for an anti inflamitory, anti-bacterial ointment. Now on louies eye,it had lumps on the eye,not the eye lid, and what my father and i did was apply the ointment with a cathoder(like a plastic needle that wont damage the eye), IN his eye, and get it on the area, i dont know if thats what helped him, it mightve been just the fact that i sorta just laid off all the meds, and stress for a while. I dont know if thats a good enough help for ya, but trust me,i know how it feels to go through eye problems

 

[hawaiianice99]

sorry for you situation. Im sure your cham knows you are doing everything you can for it. chin up.

do you have any pics so that the rest of us know what to look out for?

 

[AndrewH]

thats so sad to hear, im sorry.

 

[mczoo]

i am sorry to hear about your chams eye.

if he had pus collected in this area and now it is draining that may be a good sign for the cham because the infection will be less and allow the cham to heal. unfortunately the area was not a leg or body so long term damage would have been less.
Staph and strep are ubiquitous bacterial organism and colonize the skin of many creatures, although i can not say with certainty if they are always present on chams. when the immune system is weak or an opening in the skin occurs these infection then attack and cause problems. when they find an area to grow in, they can create an abscess and by being in a large collection it makes it more difficult to treat by antibiotics or the immune system. the body tries to force them out opening the abcess and draining it. This is often curative in itself. of course as much of an infection as you cham has continued antibiotics will likely be needed.

I see you are in cleveland are you seeing Dr. Krupka at Avon lake animal clinic?



good luck,

Sean

PS you hygeine was not likely the cause. if this was the case all of us and our chams would be sick as well.

 

[leanna156]

I see you are in cleveland are you seeing Dr. Krupka at Avon lake animal clinic?

Yes. Dr. Krupka was the original vet that I went to. He referred us to Gary Riggs in Barberton. Dr. Riggs only sees reptiles that have been referred directly by other vets.

I will take some photos once Aegean turns around. He has his nose near a corner at the moment. I don't want to bother him and make him move into a good photo position right now.