Eye problems in Chameleons.

I would be very interested in hearing from people who have had eye problems with their chameleons as to the end result and the treatment that they used. It seems that there are so many people who's chameleons are having issues with their eyes that I think it would be good to talk about it.

Anyone?

It might be a coincidence but I have had no eye issues since I stopped using ficus in my enclosures. I Use schefflerra now exclusively and havent had any eye issues.

im currently treating my female for an infection in her eye after about 4 days now of using antibiotic drops and ointment with twice daily long showers im seeing great improvement and feel within another 5 days tops she will be back to 100 percent

Female panther 5months old. Closed eye, irritated and continually scratching/rubbing with forefoot and branches. The cham was unable to clear the debris by herself after 1 day. Cleared with 1 session of repeated saline solution flushes that lasted about a total of 10 minutes.

I'm unsure of the first place I learned this but chameleons have a unique method for drinking water, storing it, then moving it into his tear ducts, and finally into the eye ball. They'll swish the water around in his eye to clear the debris. If you've ever seen your cham's eye squinting and bulging, that is what's going in there. And if the cham hasn't been getting enough water, there will be no water for the cham to rinse its eyes out with.

1.) Hydration is key: increase humidity, dripper, and long showers if still needed.
2.) Clear debris: saline solution squeezed from a bottle creates a stream that can force its way into a squinted eye. If repeated several times, the debris can be cleared. I have even used common contact solution although I would not recommend it.
3.) Professional assistance: the only thing better than a qualified vet, is one you know is good with chameleons. They can remove debris, prescribe medicine, and operate if necessary.

Thanks for the replies! I hope a lot more people will respond...especially people who have treated it with preformed vitamin A.

Angus (our rescued male veiled and first cham) occasionally closes his right eye after or around the time he sheds. He gets small pieces of skin stuck in it. We use low pressure high volume ophthalmic saline flushes (two or three times a day) and it resolves within a day or two. He has never had an eye infection.

gpmo (her)

Howdy,

Regarding using "contact solution", I asked several ophthalmologists/optometrists about using it and none of them had an issue with it so long as the product was safe for human exposure.

There were several products that were recalled:

AMO’s Complete MoisturePlusTM Contact Lens Solutions
Bausch & Lomb’s ReNU MoistureLoc Solution
AMO’s Complete MoisturePlus Multipurpose Solution
Bausch & Lomb’s ReNu MultiPlus Lens Care Solution (recalled twice)

Even after those answers, I'm still confused about the safety of using cleaners. I definitely agree that the "saline" eye products are safe to use.

Elisa (Chamelisa) says her vet recommends Ofloxacin eye drops for infections. Gentamicin sulfate ophthalmic solution is used by many vets too.

Like Chad said, using a saline solution to possibly eliminate a debris problem before jumping into eye drops makes sense. If you see cloudiness in the eye(s) then go to your vet for prescription eye drops. You don't have days to waste before permanent corneal scarring can occur .

Time to send this! Earthquake!! Small one here but probably big elsewhere .

Edit: 5.7 about 100+ miles away from here... http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/ci14745580.html

5.7 just south of Ocotillo.

Hope there is no big earthquake.

When these solutions are used, Dave, are the eye issues solved or do they remain/recur?

Nobody else on this forum who has had eye issues in their chameleon and had treatment that ended up resolving the issue?? Or treatment that didn't solve the problems?

I had a Veild and a Panther both come down with eye infections at about the same time. I will try to find the bottle of meds that the Dr told me to use. The Veild totally lost one eye, and after months of handfeeding, he passed. the Panther is still alive and kicking! But, I am pretty sure the one eye is totally blind now. i have to hand feed him as well. When he does try to shhot his tounge, he is always way off the mark. But now, when I come into the cage with a roach, he just automatically open his mouth and takes it right out my hand.

There are numerous causes for eye problems. There are true eye infections. Frequently, what we see as an eye problem(closed eye for example) can also be associated with a secondary response to something else being wrong.
Finding the true source of the eye problem is imperative so the cham can be treated with the right medication.

Part of the reason I started this thread is that there seem to be many eye issues on here that are not resolved...it would be good to find out why...what is really going on with them and why aren't they resolved...and most importantly find a solution.

I like this thread but part of the problem is that members don't always report back that their issue was resolved and how. I think the majority of eye issues are caused by improper lighting. Next would be something in the eye or rubbing and last RI causing secretion in the eye.

Its the unresolved ones I'm mostly interested in. There are too many that never seem to end up solved.

kinyonga said:

...When these solutions are used, Dave, are the eye issues solved or do they remain/recur?...

Click to expand...

Howdy Kinyonga,

I've used the saline solution to fill-up an eyelid to maximum inflation to rinse what I thought might be debris causing a closed eye. I did one treatment, filling the eyelid 2-3 times. The problem was resolved right away and did not re-occur. If the problem returned, I would have followed-up with prescription eye drops. All of this assumes that there are no symptoms that point to the "eye closure as a symptom of an underlying non-eye related illness" that we see so often on this forum .

I have treated several chameleons from a local reptile store that developed eye infections. I used Gentamicin with good success. One Panther went too long without treatment before the infection was noticed and developed what appeared to be permanent corneal scarring .

Thanks everyone...I hope more people will contribute to this thread.

the first panther i aquired in many years was way over my head in the beginning. it was 3 years plus & i was its fifth owner. the eye problem started with one eye closed. i started to give him showers. in this case they proved to be a temporary fix as did salene solution. eventually both eyes started closing. i triple checked my enclosure, lights, temps & everyting was on point. my cham was still going down hill with its eyes closed. sometimes one, often both. a vet suggested i really tweak my suppliments and gutload. i did a lot of research & ran across posts saying chams could not convert betacarotine into vit a. in my supplement contained betcarotine, no preformed vit a. so i administered 100 iu of preformed vitamin a on the back of a feeder. within 2 days, i noticed my cham was more active and alert. the eyes closing issue decreased to not being an issue at all. to this day im not sure if it was the kick of preformed vit A or the more thought out gutload or the combination of both. none the less, through this experience i would check over my chams over all vitamin & nutrient intake if i ever ran into any eye problem with any of my chams that proved to be more than a hydration or debris issue

one eye closed. starting to look a little caved in

my female vieled has had her left eye closed for 2 days now. it is starting to look a little caved in right where her eyelids are. she is eating and her activity is fine. her eye is just shut. could it be that she is getting too much calcium because i have been using reptocal for the past 2 weeks and i have heard that reptocal isnt the best to use? i just turned off her exo terra 5.0 flourescent light to see if that helps. any suggestions?

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

I haven't read all the responses, but I just wanted to give my experience. My R. brev is having some ocular issues so I used NeoPolyBac optical ointment for a while, and the petroleum in the ointment is too thick for their small eye openings, so it built up over time and thickened inside the eye. I had to very carefully extract the semi-dry ointment from the eye because repeated flushing was not working. So based on this bad experience, I would only use drops instead of ointment.