Possible eye injury? Help!

[toonosy2]

Hello everyone my Chams left eye has been acting up lately. It started about 3 weeks ago during finals week when I noticed that his left eye was a little more sunken than his right eye. At first i thought he was a little dehydrated so I increased misting times and even bought a humidifier that I Place on top of his screen cage that seconds as an alternate dripper to try to solve the problem. I quickly ruled out dehydration when the problem persisted and I didn't see any change in appetite or excess lethargy , also it was only that one eye that seemed to be a problem the other eye looks very healthy and bulgy. He's been a happy healthy Cham for the 2.5 years I've had him. About a week ago he started keeping the sunken left eye closed during the day so I thought maybe he had some shed skin in his eye or some other particulate since the area around his nose hadn't shed fully yet. So I started "showering" him with warm water 2X a day for about 25-30 min. My guy is very mellow so he doesn't mind being handled or in the shower. This and saline solution allowed him to open his eye but it was only a temporary as he would close his eye soon after and it would remain shut and sunken for a large part of the day. Yesterday I took him to the vet and was given an antibiotic ointment to rule out infection even though there appears to be no discharge from the eye at all. The ointment helped in getting the eye open but I am now able to see a cloudy film or something opaque over his eye. I managed to grab some pictures while we were at the vet and he was at attention. Are cataracts a thing with chameleons? He was given to me as an adult so I am not exactly sure how old he is. Or is this possibly an injury with a branch or something like that?

 

[thedoctorswife]

Following this as my Grover seems to be having eye issues too.
Both his eyes are sunken, he doesn't rotate them or react to movement, they seem to open just the tiniest bit.
Grover is still a baby, maybe 5 months old. He was eating a worm daily but has not eaten for over a week. He was definitely de-hydrated and I have made changes to fix that. He is slowing accepting watery reptiboost daily. He is very lethargic, doesn't even react to me picking him up.
I have used turtle eye drops over the last few days with no change found.
The vet is my next step, but any help until his appointment would be great.

 

[JacksJill]

@toonosy2 I see what you are talking about. It reminds me of the scarring you see with corneal abrasions in cats & dogs. What did the vet think of it?

@thedoctorswife Grovers problems might be better addressed by starring a thread in the Health Clinic forum. Copy and paste in the answers to the questions from this link. https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

 

[toonosy2]

@toonosy2 I see what you are talking about. It reminds me of the scarring you see with corneal abrasions in cats & dogs. What did the vet think of it?

@thedoctorswife Grovers problems might be better addressed by starring a thread in the Health Clinic forum. Copy and paste in the answers to the questions from this link. https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

The vet thought that was a possibility too. The eye has opening more and more but still remains closed for a large part of the day. I honestly think injury is the best bet, as I feel an acute infection would present with more swelling rather than sinking and the discharge of course. I'm keeping an eye on him like a hawk and will update as he gets better or worse. It's a little harder to track recovery with reptiles as they do tend to heal slower than mammals

 

[toonosy2]

All is better. I don't think it was an infection but the ointment given to me by the vet seemed to help lubricate the eye enough so that he could clean it well. There might have been something stuck that showering couldn't take care of. The opaque lining is gone as well. Pupil looks nice and dilated

 

[JacksJill]

Glad he's feeling better.

 

[Tortdad]

Awesome. Job well done