Panther eye problem. Going bling?!

[mindowzzz]

I would appreciate help if anyone might know anything.
I purchased this chameleon a month ago from LLLreptile... (she is about 5 months now I believe). At first I did not suspect anything bad, however on the next day I noticed that she was closing her left eye while basking, I searched the web and tried different recommendations: washing with sterile saline and giving showers. A week later I notice that her eye lid was saggy (most likely from excessive rubbing to vines) and eye pupil looked small and not dilating to light/dark. That kinda scared me and I made an appointment to see exotic vet. I was prescribed gentamicin for 7 days as the vet didn't see any scratches and thought it was an infection. All seven days while on antibiotics she was trying to flush her eye and kept it closed most of the time. A week later after I stopped using antibiotic, her eye looks really dark and the pupil is small again. I feel that she is loosing vision in that eye. I am not sure if that was the right treatment and I am not sure what's the best for her right now?!
The cage is 18x18x36
Using reptisun 5.0 tube
Basking temp around 90F
Humidity about 50-60%
She shed once about two weeks ago.
I used reptivites twice in first two weeks and calcium everyday no D3.
Have switched to Repashy a week ago as recommended per Krammers. Dusting crickets everyday...
BTW, her right eye is completely healthy and bright.
I have already started calling her "one eyed pirated"
Check the pics, lemme know what you think. I kinda lost hope and I am tired of stress for the past month trying to get her better.

 

[Carlton]

Eyes are tricky and easily damaged despite good care. The med your vet gave you was appropriate, and the flushing was helpful too. If this helps her keep her eye more comfortable while it heals there's no reason not to do it. But even if the infection or tiny injury itself improved there might be some scarring that can't be fixed. Hard to say really. The good thing is, your cham can adjust its hunting technique and stay fed just fine. There may be some vision in that eye maybe not. They've done studies on chams that were temporarily blinded in one eye to see how they adapted, and found most learned to sight in and shoot successfully. I'm sure there are many one-eyed chams surviving the wild too. Don't give up unless your cham does, OK?

I had an old wc verrucosus who gradually lost vision in one eye. We never knew exactly why, but he wasn't uncomfortable and hunted pretty normally up until he died.

 

[mindowzzz]

Thank you for your reply. I am not loosing hope in her, I see she is strong and eating well. However, that eye is creeping me out every time.
I let her try a few wax worms, so now she would only catch crickets when she feels like. Every time she sees a wax worm, she comes running.
I was thinking to get some tobramycin, since it says it's better than gentamicin, but not sure if that would make it even worse?!

 

[Zach Valois]

Update on the situation?

 

[mindowzzz]

well... it's still an ongoing issue... it looks like it has been over 2 months now. I was able to get some Tobrex (I used tobramycin solution first - not much help - eye would dry out fast). Tobrex ointment caused a layer (like a scab) to cover all of her eye for a month. That "scab" fell off and now it looks like she is able to see, however, she is not able to move her eye much, cause of remaining little pieces of dead skin, like shed, the skin around the eye looks like it's still little hard. She has not shed in over 2 months and she doesn't have appetite for crickets. She would only eat worms. When trying to catch crickets she always hits them from the first try and crickets would fly the opposite direction.
Well, it's getting better, but it is really slow recovery. I fed her "Repti-boost" with a syringe, while she had the scab, because she was on a hunger strike and I guess she did not feel comfortable to hunt. Well now, she is not scared of syringe and she would drink dripping water from it (only when thirsty).

 

[Hoj]

I have a similar issue with a few chams and it seems it was in connection with a D3 vit A inbalance.
I would suggest cutting all suppelemention down to plain calcium every other day for the next 2 weeks and then reintroduce the calcium plus 4 to 5 times a week.
Make sure your UVB source is good and that you are offering well gutloaded feeders.

 

[Zach Valois]

well... it's still an ongoing issue... it looks like it has been over 2 months now. I was able to get some Tobrex (I used tobramycin solution first - not much help - eye would dry out fast). Tobrex ointment caused a layer (like a scab) to cover all of her eye for a month. That "scab" fell off and now it looks like she is able to see, however, she is not able to move her eye much, cause of remaining little pieces of dead skin, like shed, the skin around the eye looks like it's still little hard. She has not shed in over 2 months and she doesn't have appetite for crickets. She would only eat worms. When trying to catch crickets she always hits them from the first try and crickets would fly the opposite direction.
Well, it's getting better, but it is really slow recovery. I fed her "Repti-boost" with a syringe, while she had the scab, because she was on a hunger strike and I guess she did not feel comfortable to hunt. Well now, she is not scared of syringe and she would drink dripping water from it (only when thirsty).

Have you noticed any change in the shape, color, density of black color coverage, etc with the actual eye itself?

 

[Zach Valois]

I have a similar issue with a few chams and it seems it was in connection with a D3 vit A inbalance.
I would suggest cutting all suppelemention down to plain calcium every other day for the next 2 weeks and then reintroduce the calcium plus 4 to 5 times a week.
Make sure your UVB source is good and that you are offering well gutloaded feeders.

So you have been seeing a black-ish discoloration within the eye too?

Have you noticed this having any relation to size?

Do you refer to imbalance as it might be an improper ratio of D3/Vit A, or simply too much of either or? What was the regime and type you were using on the particular animals you are referring to? I saw this in my own group of animals (see my other recent eye thread), and must note that they were on Repashy Cal Plus on a 2-3 dusting a week interval for the first 3 months I had them (now six months in my care). I suppose the issues stemmed at about a month and a half in my care, with the eyes developing several months thereafter. Oversupplementing seems to make some sense .. but I still wonder why the darkened eye.

Here is what appears to be the same situation more or less. https://www.chameleonforums.com/eye-general-health-questions-16010/

 

[mindowzzz]

Have you noticed any change in the shape, color, density of black color coverage, etc with the actual eye itself?

Two month ago, the pupil itself would not change in size and she was not able to see with her left eye as she was trying to feel what's around before grabbing a branch to climb (from left side). The right eye did not have any issues, no color change - absolutely healthy. The UVB reptisun 5.0 is new and I have been using it since the beginning of June.
I tried Gentax ointment... (given to me by a vet) that kinda helped for a week, after I stopped using it... the symptoms came back. Got some tobramycin solution... that didn't work well... as it would dry out too fast and I think it was irritating the eye more. Only tobrex helped me get rid of whatever infection was there. The first month when I got her, I only used cal without D3 everyday.. and maybe 3 times reptivites during the first month. I am using Repashy now... I don't think it was over or under supplementing, or it would have been both of the eyes?! Anyhow, crickets are on their cricket diet fluckers food. However, she does only eat only 2-4 crickets a day if she feels like catching them... other than that... I need to find some silkworms, I got 100 of them but about 80% died before I got to feed them to her. I never thought it's gonna be such a headache to grow such a lil fragile and picky reptile Well, it's kinda pleasant headache as I am finding it to be a hobby now. You have to be really dedicated to the whole process.
BTW, as of right now, the pupil of the left eye is dilating normally, shape did not change, around the pupil the eye is lil darker than the healthy eye. The eye lid itself is still dark... kinda looks like she has "black eye". I need to take a pic and post... will do soon.

 

[Zach Valois]

update...?