Help! eye infection

[Sammyb25]

I've had my panthr chameleon, Apollo, for about 7 months and he is 9 months old. Two months ago I took him to the vet because his eyes were shut and it looked like he had an abscess. The vet put him on an antibiotic for two weeks. It got a little better but there was still a problem so I took him back. Again, the vet put him on the same antibiotic for another two weeks. The problem was getting better but now his one eye is completley shut and his other eye looks open but you can't see his eye because there is like a hardened subsatce blocking it. (if that makes any sense) I fear he might need surgery and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this and had any good results.I would also like to know a price estimate-although I would pay anything for my beloved chameleon's heath.

 

[kinyonga]

What brand and type (compact, spiral, long linear tube) UVB light are you using?

 

[ataraxia]

if he has a substance blocking his eyes. it needs attending to. whether an ointment will be applied or physically removing it...a specialized vet should see your situation.

 

[DavidBuchan]

Yeah, as long as you think your vet knows his reptiles (if the vet seems excited by having a cham to look at this is a bad sign). What else can you do. Take to the vet again and tell them that it didn't really work - what other ideas you got doc?

 

[Sammyb25]

Iam using a Zoo med Reptisun compact fluorescent light bulb. I plan on taking him to the vet this week. He seemed like he knew a lot about chameleons and wasn't surprised to see one.

 

[DavidBuchan]

Iam using a Zoo med Reptisun compact fluorescent light bulb. I plan on taking him to the vet this week. He seemed like he knew a lot about chameleons and wasn't surprised to see one.

Replace with a tube one asap. Reptisun 5.0. I've had no experience with the compacts but enough people on the forums have had eye problems caused by them to make me wish they were never sold.

 

[Dave Weldon]

Iam using a Zoo med Reptisun compact fluorescent light bulb...

Howdy,

What part of the USA are you located?

Although I'm leaning towards an eye infection, if your ZooMed CFL happens to be a 10.0 unit AND it was old stock when you bought it then it might be from the "bad" phosphor formula batches produced before they corrected it. Their 5.0 CFLs were affected to a lesser extent. One way to tell if you have the corrected phosphor formula is to look at the instruction sheet date. The bad CFLs (only the CFLs were affected, not the linears) had an instruction sheet dated 12-06 (Dec 2006) and the corrected CFL sheets were dated 01-09 or 03-09. There are no dates in-between '06 and '09 so if it is '09 then you are safe. One note however; I was talking with a ZooMed representative and she mentioned that they did stuff some new boxes with the old sheets not realizing that we used that new sheet as a means of identification . I let her know how important it was to have the right instruction sheet/date for identification purposes .

The dates are located at the bottom, right corner of the instruction sheet. The boxes have some differences (go find a post by Summoner12) too.

Good 5.0 Instruction sheet: http://www.zoomed.com/Library/ProductDBFiles/reptisun5cf.pdf

Good 10.0 instruction sheet: http://www.zoomed.com/Library/ProductDBFiles/reptisun10cf.pdf

Regarding the possibility of an eye infection: Are you using an ophthalmic antibiotic (clear liquid eye drop dripped directly into the eye)? A common one is Gentamicin betamethasone and there are other good ones too. My hope is that the "crust" really is infectious "gunk" and not a damaged cornea . Eye infections usually clear-up within the first few days of treatment (complete the entire prescribed regiment). If you have husbandry errors (why do they always blame the husbands ), infections will persist.

Post a well lit, well focused (or as good as you can take ) photo of the eyes. If your camera has a "macro" mode, use it. That will allow you to focus while getting less than a foot away. Get the focus right and we'll do the zooming if necessary . Most point-and-shoot digital cameras use a flower symbol for the macro setting. Keep shooting until you get it right .

Here's a good eye for reference:

Here's an example of damaged eyes:

Left Eye Corneal scarring:

Right Eye Corneal scarring:

 

[Sammyb25]

I am located in the Philadelpia area. I am away this weekend so when i get home on monday i will be sure to check the instruction sheet. His eye is covered in a yellow crusty gunk and its covering his eye so you cant even see his cornea. Here are some pics:

 

[Sammyb25]

Replace with a tube one asap. Reptisun 5.0. I've had no experience with the compacts but enough people on the forums have had eye problems caused by them to make me wish they were never sold.

Thanks for letting me know about the light-I'll definately buy a new (non-compact) one As soon as I can.

 

[kinyonga]

What light are you using for basking as well? Its not a CFL is it?

 

[Hoj]

those pics look alot like my camos eye when it gets bad, and vit a was the answer FOR ME but you may have a diff, problem

 

[ataraxia]

the infection will need to be cleaned and a ointment will need to start ASAP. you dont want to wait on this if you want him to ever have his eye site back.

id recommend warm showers and rinsing with saline. ever so gently taking a pre moisten qtip (try to roll it out by rolling the qtip over it). if you have any terramycin laying around id get that going ASAP. BE SURE TO KEEP EVERYTHING STERILE WHILE DOING THIS.

if you dont feel safe doing any of this dont do it. you could cause harm if not careful.

btw - i would personally change your lights but it wont clear your current problem up.

 

[DavidBuchan]

the infection will need to be cleaned and a ointment will need to start ASAP. you dont want to wait on this if you want him to ever have his eye site back.


btw - i would personally change your lights but it wont clear your current problem up.

Aye, the immediate problem is more important, but seems pretty serious to me. I wouldn't recommend anyone with no veterinary experience to deal with it. The lighting could well be the underlying cause if the general forum consensus is trusted though, no?

 

[Eltortu]

Wow! That looks terrible, and how does he eat?

 

[Eltortu]

Hey Dave Weldon, how do they get eye corneal scarring from? Vitamine deficiencies, genetics??

 

[ataraxia]

Aye, the immediate problem is more important, but seems pretty serious to me. I wouldn't recommend anyone with no veterinary experience to deal with it. The lighting could well be the underlying cause if the general forum consensus is trusted though, no?

what in your eyes is the immediate problem?

ive been down the road with bad CFL bulbs and have personally seen swollen eyes shut for days. now with my experiences i never saw any infection. that bulb could have been the cause of the infection but now replacing that bulb isnt going to cure the current infection. IF, it was the cause then replacing will prevent further eye problems caused from the bulb.

we cant rule out the infection could have been caused from other circumstances.

not very many are vets here and are merely hobbyist/enthusiast. my advice along with everyones is simply stated as advice and if the op feels like he is capable that is upon him.

kinyonga and dave give great advice.

 

[Dave Weldon]

Hey Dave Weldon, how do they get eye corneal scarring from? Vitamine deficiencies, genetics??

Howdy Rafael,

That example of corneal scarring was a panther with prolonged and serious eye infections that was brought into a reptile store as a rescue, if I recall correctly. After I cleared-up the infections for the store, the scarring caused by the prolonged infection was what remained. That's why it is so important to jump on eye infections right away and if it doesn't begin to clear-up within a couple of days, have your vet review the lack of progress and possibly change treatment regiments. Improvement with early treatment of an eye infection can literally be overnight and completely cleared in a matter of a handful of days with 100% recovery of eyesight.

 

[DavidBuchan]

what in your eyes is the immediate problem?

we cant rule out the infection could have been caused from other circumstances.

not very many are vets here and are merely hobbyist/enthusiast. my advice along with everyones is simply stated as advice and if the op feels like he is capable that is upon him.

kinyonga and dave give great advice.

The immediate problem is as you stated, the infection. Nobody ruled out other circumstances, because we're none of us stupid.
Not many of us are vets. That's partly why we need to be extra careful when dealing with medical problems, especially potentially life threatening ones.
On a case by case basis I might advise someone to treat it himself but this seems to me to be a serious case, and I wouldn't be confident dealing with it. Just my own opinion/ advice.

 

[Eltortu]

Hey Sammyb25, how is your chameleon doing?

 

[Sammyb25]

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't responded in a while I've been so busy with Apollo. He's doing pretty good and is on the "road to recovery". I bought the Reptisun light and got rid of the CFL. He went to the vet on Tues. and the vet had to scoop the abscess out of his eye beacause it was walled off from the rest of his body. Apollo now is getting a shower everynight along with oral antibiotics and and ointment for his eye. I have to sort of hand feed him because he cant see Thanks everyone for the help and when he gets fully recoved I'll post pics. Thanks again!