The Swollen Eye: Hematoma

[CheekyMinx]

Leon developed an extremely swollen eye within a day. And when I say swollen, I mean really swollen (see image). Having seen posts earlier regarding such eye issues, I thought it to be an infection or vitamin deficiency. After taking him to the vet, however, it was discovered that the swelling was filled with blood. After taking out 3 viles, his eye only filled right back up. The vet then told me she believe it to be a hematoma, caused by him falling and hitting his eye. I was sent home with a little gift bag of pain killers and antibiotics. He has not been eating (even before the eye) so am going to try and give him some vitamins and other goodies by syringe with his medicine. Hopefully the swelling goes away in time and the vet was right.

If you are wondering, he is extremely aggressive and the towel is how I get him out of the cage without being bit

 

[ulamachula]

wishing a speedy recovery to Leon!

 

[Carlton]

Ouch! Poor little meanie. Hope he gets better.

 

[Moxie]

Ow. I'm so sorry for the poor guy. I hope he recovers well. It certainly isn't going to improve his attitude.

 

[CheekyMinx]

Thanks everyone!

Yeah he is definitely not happy with me, even more so than usual. I wish there was an easier way to give him the medicine but he will just have to deal with being wrapped in a towel and having syringes stuck in his mouth. He bit down pretty hard on it this morning... A lot of hissing was involved.

Hoping this goes away quickly so he can be left in peace again

 

[kinyonga]

Try dripping water on the end of the chameleon's nose and while it's drinking slip the meds in.

 

[CheekyMinx]

**UPDATE**
His eye has sunk back down finally! Still a tad swollen but it is moving normally and he does not appear to be annoyed with it anymore. During his recovery, I did a thorough investigation of his cage and figured out my thermometer was broken and was 15 degrees off. Poor guy was freezing his tail off without me knowing New thermometer is in place and temps are back to normal and he has started eating again.

So take my mistakes as a lesson: check your thermometers regularly!

 

[MissLissa]

I'm glad he's doing better! Is he moving it normally?

 

[CheekyMinx]

Yup! Everything appears to be back to normal.

 

[CheekyMinx]

Updated Update

Well apparently things aren't back to normal. He's eating again and his colours have gotten loads better, but his eye changes throughout the day. Not really sure what to do anymore

 

[DaChameleonKing]

OMG I hope he gets better.

 

[wodesorel]

It looks like he has swelling not just of his eye, but also his crest and cheeks? (I'm still pretty new to this.) Antibiotics sometimes take a little tweaking to find the right one if a culture isn't done to figure out which bacteria you're dealing with. Don't give up! The doc will probably want to try something different this time. Or it could be that the first course wasn't long enough to wipe out the infection so it came back.

 

[CheekyMinx]

It looks like he has swelling not just of his eye, but also his crest and cheeks? (I'm still pretty new to this.) Antibiotics sometimes take a little tweaking to find the right one if a culture isn't done to figure out which bacteria you're dealing with. Don't give up! The doc will probably want to try something different this time. Or it could be that the first course wasn't long enough to wipe out the infection so it came back.

Yeah it's just weird because the vet was pretty positive it wasn't an infection. When she took a sample of his eye it was all blood which made her think he had hit his eye. Might be time to return to the vet

 

[wodesorel]

It could have started as a physical injury and then became infected over time, or the injury could have been more extensive than it seemed at first glace. Eye and face injuries can be really weird. I've got a lot more experience with cats than with reptiles, but some of the stuff I've seen has been seriously bizarre. In any species, the facial bones are delicate, and one area can easily affect another.

 

[MissLissa]

Wodesorel is right; faces are bizarre. Infections can take time to set in. I'd definitely recommend a culture and sensitivity to make sure you have the right antibiotics on board to fight the problem- it will also tell if it's bacterial at all. I would be surprised if it wasn't infected (but that would not be the first time!).

Poor thing! Best wishes to you both.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Nothing looks or sounds as I would expect a hematoma (bruise) to look like. From your pictures, it looks like he has really abnormal swelling/filling around the face (the side of his bad eye), the both sides of the casque and the right jaw (your profile picture). I would guess this abnormal swelling developed slowly since you haven't commented on it so wonder if you haven't noticed it or it has always been there. It looks very different from a fat pad.

It seems he is bleeding somewhere in his head that is accumulating around his eye. I wonder if he has a tumor or something like that. If it was an infection, the blood that the vet pulled out would have looked abnormal and s/he would have commented on it I would think. That's not to say that an infection couldn't have started since your vet drained his eye.

I just cannot believe that a whack to the eye would produce so much internal bleeding. I guess it is possible, but I just don't see. I would have thought that to cause that kind of bleeding he would have had to be stabbed in the eye and severed a major blood vessel. Even if he had done that, unless the animal bleeds out, the blood vessel is going to stop bleeding at some point, which makes me think that something such as a tumor is constantly bleeding. I just don't see a soft eye inside a bony skull being banged and severing a major blood vessel to cause so much blood loss. Sure, a bang to the eye can cause bruising, but that amount of blood? It just seems very odd to me.

Good luck.

 

[kinyonga]

So this second swelling event started after he was finished the course of antibiotics??

 

[CheekyMinx]

He was on both painkillers and antibiotics and after they were done, it went down a bit. It was my mistake assuming it had gotten better. It has now come back. It's not nearly as bad as it used to be and it changes throughout the day, but it is definitely still swollen. He is acting normal, apart from the eye. The vet did say that she wasn't dismissing the chance of a bleeding disorder.
I never imagined a tumour.

 

[CheekyMinx]

Nothing looks or sounds as I would expect a hematoma (bruise) to look like. From your pictures, it looks like he has really abnormal swelling/filling around the face (the side of his bad eye), the both sides of the casque and the right jaw (your profile picture). I would guess this abnormal swelling developed slowly since you haven't commented on it so wonder if you haven't noticed it or it has always been there. It looks very different from a fat pad.

It seems he is bleeding somewhere in his head that is accumulating around his eye. I wonder if he has a tumor or something like that. If it was an infection, the blood that the vet pulled out would have looked abnormal and s/he would have commented on it I would think. That's not to say that an infection couldn't have started since your vet drained his eye.

I just cannot believe that a whack to the eye would produce so much internal bleeding. I guess it is possible, but I just don't see. I would have thought that to cause that kind of bleeding he would have had to be stabbed in the eye and severed a major blood vessel. Even if he had done that, unless the animal bleeds out, the blood vessel is going to stop bleeding at some point, which makes me think that something such as a tumor is constantly bleeding. I just don't see a soft eye inside a bony skull being banged and severing a major blood vessel to cause so much blood loss. Sure, a bang to the eye can cause bruising, but that amount of blood? It just seems very odd to me.

Good luck.

I've been looking through older pictures and I can now see the swelling. I just assumed when the vet didn't say anything it was fine. He's my first cham so I am kind of running around like a headless chicken. I'm a little annoyed that I paid a good chunk of money and the vet didn't catch any of these things or mention them. I just want him to be healthy again

 

[jajeanpierre]

I've been looking through older pictures and I can now see the swelling. I just assumed when the vet didn't say anything it was fine. He's my first cham so I am kind of running around like a headless chicken. I'm a little annoyed that I paid a good chunk of money and the vet didn't catch any of these things or mention them. I just want him to be healthy again

Is your vet a reptile vet? Does your vet have experience with chameleons? Some vets treat species that they really don't know a whole lot about what "normal" looks like.