leopard gecko shed and retained eye cap help!

[jossh27]

Hi everyone,

Today i brought a leopard gecko home from a acquaintances house. The lizard was poorly cared for and aside from having a horrible shed its eyes are not doing well- suspecting retained eye caps... Probably from multiple past sheds. The owner doesn't know how long the animal had been like this... First couple pictures are before i brought him home and the rest are since I started treating him with humidity and baths/soaking.

The last picture is after i very very gently( cannot express how careful i was) rubbed his eye and some of the crap came out.

[jossh27]

I feel so bad for this little guy

[Minkness]

They don't have eyecaps. It's probably an infection from a small tear due to the bad shed. Use some standard eye drops and see if you can work it off gently. Be prepared to go to the vet for an eye antibiotic.

[jossh27]

Hey mink, i figured your name would pop up. Taking ot to the vet tonight- thanks for your input

[Minkness]

Good luck. Fingers crossed for you and the little guy!

[jossh27]

Sad day for my new little friend... The vet visit didn't go so well- i was given eye drops that he needs three times a day and i'm due back for another visit in two days. The vet said he doesn't expect to be able to get the remaining crap out of his eyes- he'll be blind Most likely.

Ley this be a unneeded lesson for anyone looking to keep any pet... If you don't put in the time to research basic husbandry requirements then you shouldn't own a frigging animal. I'm so pissed off!

[jossh27]

What's your thoughts

[Minkness]

Uh....find a different vet....Leos don't have eye 'caps' they have eye lids. I have rescued several leos with eye infections and all healed fine with eye drops twice a day and one needed an ointment like neosporin (minus the pain reliver thing). As far as I can tell none are blind from their ordeal.

Soooo....2nd opinion by a different vet maybe?

[jossh27]

oh my god. what a joke. how do vets take money from people and not know what they are doing? he made it sound like as if they had caps like a snake and keep overlapping until its fused there... do you know the name of drops you were given? and any info in regards to the gecko that i can slip his way and possibly get him to call another vet or possibly refund me my exam fee? he even took a qtip and tried rubbing the "cap" out of the eye which evidently just irritated it more

[Minkness]

......that is an AWFUL vet! Could you imagine someone poking you in the eye with a q-tip?!?!

Honestly, I used simple saline for contacts. It helps lubricate the eye, wash out any debris, and aids in general healing. That should be done as iften as you can with a minimum of twice per day (or once every 12 hours).

Remove any substrate. Normally people suggest using paper towels, but that dries everything out. So either bare tank/tub or I liked to use solid rubber shelving liner.

Up the heat and humidity, give it 3-5 days to show improvement.

Also, to help get shed off, use mineral oil. They don't shed like snakes so it helps moisturize but also isn't plant based so if they lick it, the worst that happens is a bit of diarrhea. But that's not really a bad thing since it's temporary.

Eye caps....on a leopard gecko....uhg....-face palm-

Now...cresties have caps...but they don't have eye lids like leos....for the vet not to know that just blows my ever loving mind!

Good luck, and keep me informed. He should be fine thoughince you get it all washed out and properly hydrated.

[jossh27]

okay. He gave me ISOPTO TEARS 1%
Hydroxypropyl
Methylcellulose
For the eyes, to hydrate them... Should i abandon those and switch to saline?

[Minkness]

Those should be fine. Use them as instructed and give it about 3 days. If you see no improvement, I'd say switch to saline.

However keep in mind, I am not a vet. This is just my experience.