possible skin issue

[Benton1576]

Hi,

My friend has a nosy faly. Recently one of his eyes close and it needs to be cleaned using saline/antibiotic solution. Hes been to the vets and he has assured him that its just a loose debris from his branch and flushed it out. The eye closing is probably some irratation from the vets clean out or so the vet says hence the solution he was given to administer 3 times per day. Anyway, to administer the solution he has to be restrained. Today i was cleaning his eye (my friend doesnt like to do it himself!) and some of his skin came away, he is due a shed and you can clearly see that. He is around 9 months old so shedding quite frequently. When the skin came away it felt as though he was sticky. ive never seen this before so does anyone else have any idea what it could be. skin colour has darkened around the area. he seems fine otherwise but im a bit concerned about this. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Cham Fan]

I had a similar issue with my leopard gecko recently at first I thought it was stuck shed constricting his tail tip but from the information I was given, it was likely a combination of the flusing/soaking the about to shed skin, he prematurly shed, and it took a layer of the new skin with it. I know when my leo sheds his tail and his top of his head are the last areas to ghost up for shed. Sometimes when the rest of the body is ready but those areas aren't, despite that being the thinnest layers of his skin, if he pulls that piece off before it's actually ready the skin underneath is still too "new" wasn't ready to be exposed yet. I have a pictuer of my leos tail where this happened so I'll post that,

Sorry it's not the best pic but you can see how the end of his tail the skin texture looks different about 1/3 of the way up his tail. You can almost see just where it stops where his tail starts to fatten up and the skin looks more velvety insted of like saran wrap.

but it was exactly as you described... seemed "sticky", it stayed like that for a solid day then the next morning it started getting darker, almost like a bruise blush, but with in 3 days it was perfectly fine. For those 3 days tho Eros was not a happy camper. You could tell it was sensitive to the touch. I was told by the leo pros on my gecko forum to just keep it lightly coated for the next few days with mineral oil so the new permature skin didn't get too tight/damaged/burned/easily cut/etc... so what I thought was stuck shed was actually prematurly pulled off shed exposing sensitive raw new skin. If this is what happened with your friends Cham then the eye might be really sensitive right now hence the chams keeping it closed/squinting/etc.

So anywho... even tho this is a different species it is kind of a similar experience so I hope at least some of this was helpful

 

[callum181]

Hi I am the owner of the cham his eye is unrelated. At least I think it is the area of the skin issue is on the side of his chest/belly. It is sensitive to the touch and he is not happy at all. Ill keep an eye on him hopefully he will be ok .

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Is it pink or colored like his normal skin? Their skin can be pretty fragile so if he was squirming a lot it's possible some of his skin may have been torn a little. Keep the area clean regardless and if you have silvadene cream that will keep the area protected from infection and moistened to make it more comfortable. Neosporin should work too. A picture would help up help you.

 

[callum181]

ill post some pics up as soon as i can find the cable to attach my camera. I think its cham fan described. theres no redness but it does seem sensitive to touch and looks exactly like the geckos tail, sticky to the touch and looks moist.

Ill go to the vets near to me and try to buy some neosporin to cover it for a few days and keep my eyes on it. hopefully all is well. I was a bit concerned at first, my friend benton1576 thought it could have been a fungal infection of some kind although there was no evidence of this, ie no fungas present. He did notice though that the skin seemed really thick and had a yellowish haze to it but its the same all over him at the moment. We have never seen this happen before and benton1576 has a lot of experience with panther chameleons, although he claims not to know it all!! lol.

Thanks for the replies so far, please keep them coming as im starting to feel very reassured.

 

[Benton1576]

Good to see you still use this site mate. Now, from the lack of replies, you can see why i dont really bother anymore!

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Well in the case that it is fungal you won't actually see the fungus. It won't be like bread mold or anything, the fungus is microscopic and a vet will need to look at the skin, or impressions of it, under the microscope. May have to do a DTM (dermatophyte test medium) to grow the fungus first in order to see it. I'm not sure if that's a likely differential here, just thought you should know what to look for (or not in this case).

 

[callum181]

Thanks for the advice about the fungus he looks alot better today his skin where it peeled has dried over so its not wet / sticky it looks almost the same as the rest of him he is basking as i type this so i imagine it cant be to sensitive for him.

Thanks

-callum

 

[Cham Fan]

That sounds soooo much like what Eros went thru. I'd be willing to bet it was just prematurely shed skin and what you were seeing was sensitive new baby skin that wasn't ready to be exposed just yet. So glad he's doing better

 

[kinyonga]

Could it have been a burn?

 

[Cham Fan]

mmmm I don't think a burn would have healed that cleanly after just 24 hours. usually a burn will slightly scab first or at least look kinda crusty before you see fresh new skin coming thru.

 

[Benton1576]

HaHa,

I was wondering when somebody would mention a burn!! It seems that everything i read about skin problems somebody asks if it was a burn or says it definately is because their chameleon got burned and i looks exactly the same!! lol.

Anyway, its definately not a burn, young Jeff cant reach the bulb or even get close enough to get a burn. Its premature skin shed. All is in order now and Jeff is doing fine and startng to shed the rest of his skin now, getting some beautful colouration too. Thanks to everyone who posted to try and help.

 

[Cham Fan]

YAY I was able to help Tell ya what tho... once you see/feel it you never forget it that's for sure. You'd be surprised how many times it comes up on the gecko forum.