Leopard Gecko Eye Issues

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Originally Posted by heathers*bps

What I would try doing the next time you notice she is about to shed, is mist her. I always mist my geckos when they are about to shed. I don't mist around the tub or anything, just directly on my gecko. Once you do that, see if she starts licking at her eyes. All my geckos lick at their eyes, even when not in shed. Maybe some water droplets on/around her eyes would get her to lick them. I hope this helps.

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Alright I'll give it a shot.

Thanks.

I would get her into a bright, well lit area and examine her eyes as closely as you can.

A friend of mine had a gecko with shed stuck on the eyelid that was irritating the crud out of her eye. It wasn't an easy task to remedy, and she had problems for quite a while after it.

I would definitely suggest a very close analysis of it if you can. Magnifying glass, light, even a second set of hands if you can. I worry that this problem could be causing perminant damage.

Take a container and put some warm, moist paper towels into it to create a sauna. Let her sit in this for about 15-20 minutes. Then remove her to examine her eyes. If you do identify any stuck shed, the humidity from the sauna should allow you to manipulate the area and possibly remove the problem.

Another thing to look at is the eyelids. Are they folded in at all? In horses, there have been a few cases where the eyelids would turn in and the horse would be getting irritated constantly by the outer skin and eyelashes of the eyelid. This would result in squinting, eye watering, problems seeing... Not sure if that would be the case here, but it might be something to check. It could be her eyelid anatomy that's causing problems?

Pretty much, I would get a close look at her as best you can. Use saline if you're working with her eyes, as it is pH neutral. Perhaps try flushing her eye with saline if you think it's foreign matter. Otherwise, use q-tips dipped in saline if you need to manipulate her eyelids or anything like that. Take your time, analyze and look. She might not be very happy about it, but treat it like you're a 'doctor' dealing with a stubborn 'patient'. "It's for your own good!"

There's nothing in her tank she could have injured her eyes on?

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Originally Posted by Vasiliki

I would get her into a bright, well lit area and examine her eyes as closely as you can.

A friend of mine had a gecko with shed stuck on the eyelid that was irritating the crud out of her eye. It wasn't an easy task to remedy, and she had problems for quite a while after it.

I would definitely suggest a very close analysis of it if you can. Magnifying glass, light, even a second set of hands if you can. I worry that this problem could be causing perminant damage.

Take a container and put some warm, moist paper towels into it to create a sauna. Let her sit in this for about 15-20 minutes. Then remove her to examine her eyes. If you do identify any stuck shed, the humidity from the sauna should allow you to manipulate the area and possibly remove the problem.

Another thing to look at is the eyelids. Are they folded in at all? In horses, there have been a few cases where the eyelids would turn in and the horse would be getting irritated constantly by the outer skin and eyelashes of the eyelid. This would result in squinting, eye watering, problems seeing... Not sure if that would be the case here, but it might be something to check. It could be her eyelid anatomy that's causing problems?

Pretty much, I would get a close look at her as best you can. Use saline if you're working with her eyes, as it is pH neutral. Perhaps try flushing her eye with saline if you think it's foreign matter. Otherwise, use q-tips dipped in saline if you need to manipulate her eyelids or anything like that. Take your time, analyze and look. She might not be very happy about it, but treat it like you're a 'doctor' dealing with a stubborn 'patient'. "It's for your own good!"

There's nothing in her tank she could have injured her eyes on?

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I'll take a look. I don't think that there is anything in her cage that would be causing issues. I have paper towels for substrate, Reptile basics hides, a water dish, and a calcium dish.

Then I'm rather stumped. Leos are tricky with their moving eyelids. Keep us posted on anything you find, though. Might help us narrow down how to help your little girl.

My guess is that she's had a number of bad sheds. Retained sheds can cause all sorts of problems (I almost lost one of mine due to an infection related to a shed that got behind his eye). Anyway, I would rinse her eyes out daily for a while (water or a saline eye drops) and see if that will clear it up.

What color are her pupils? If they're red, there's a good chance she's just extremely light sensitive. (Lack of the pigment leads to higher light sensitivity) I have one who can't be in any sort of direct sunlight- even through a window, it's too painful for him.

Well here is an update:

I put her under my stereoscope (Microscope for viewing 3D objects) I found that there were extremely small pieces of stuck shed on her eyelids. So I had my sister (who is in school to become a vet) remove them since my hands shake too much to do anything that close to my leopard geckos eyes.

It took a few days but she has both open now and has for a about a week. I'm not celebrating just yet but all seems to be fixed for now.

Thanks all for the input!

Yay!! Glad the problem is solved and she is better! *happy dance* :)

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

I know this is a little old but thought I would chime in. There are a number of things that leopard geckos are very prone to getting that can cause the eye to close.

-Usually a stuck shed is what it is but the eye will look swollen or bulging if it was.
-if it is in sand or any of kind of dirt particles of some sort could have gotten inside and havnt came out.
-There are a few worm parasites that are found around the eyethat can cause them to close there eyes.
-If it was scratched lets say by a mealworm while trying to eat it, could cause them to close there eyes.
-Nutritional deficiencies as well can cause this, usually lack of vitamen A.
-Some geckos are born blind (not in this case apparently)

Usually the best thing that you can do is try to flush out the eye with a sayline solution that they use for contacts that is preservative free. If that doesnt help a vet trip is needed.

How did you remove the shed from the eye? We are having the same issue with our Leo. we have been rinsing with saline and gently tubing with q-tip. Also added an antibiotic ointment for eyes. He has shed again since the retained shed. But is not interested in eating.

I used a stereo scope so I could see what I was doing then super small tweezers to remove the pieces of stuck shed. I used F10 vet disenfectant to disenfectant the tweezers.