Swollen Eye?

[Miko]

Hello, it's me again about my ball python Luna. I had another forum about her since she was a very troubled hatchling, but now I'm posting about a different issue. Her eye is very swollen, and has a red crescent. I'm not sure if it is a birth defect and I'm starting to think it's not because the appearance of it keeps changing in size/ there was no red crescent when she was first born. I took her to an exotic vet who said she had never seen anything like it. I thought it was a blocked lacrimal duct, but the vet said she did not see any blockage inside the mouth. She did not flush the lacrimal duct.

Right now I'm at about $400 in vet bills, and she's currently on antibiotics. She has been on them for two weeks and her eye just gets bigger. The vet wants me to do a $850 CT scan... and then she says they may have to remove the eye? Another big charge, I'm sure.

I'm wondering if I should go to a different vet or if there is anything I can do myself at this point since I feel like all the things we have done have not been helping her eye which looks almost like it is pushing itself downward from all the pressure. I looked inside her mouth and there is a swollen vein on the side the eye is on... The vet said it was normal.

The vet said she tested positive for a slight systemic infection. Been giving her antibiotics every three days.

Here's a bunch of photos. Both her eyes are a bit odd.

Top view


Smaller Eye Side


Swollen Eye Side


It's really hard for me to get a picture of inside her mouth since she is so small. If necessary I will try to get one.

[Miko]

Here is another perspective of the swollen eye.



This is a bad picture, but this is how it looked when she was first born. It was swollen but there was no red.

[Albert Clark]

So sorry to see this. I think this presentation may be related to the genetic anomaly associated with the morph though. I don't know if all the extra testing and treatment will change alot of her condition. But that is purely just a opinion bc i am no exotic vet. GOOD LUCK. I hope she improves.

[Miko]

Bumping for help and also I'm not sure why the picture changed? Silly image hosting website.

[Snoopyslim]

Hi Miko,

So sorry you are having to go through this. She's such a cute little thing. I don't really have any knowledge regarding the issue at hand but it sounds like you are getting in very deep with the vet to save this little thing. How is she doing in general? Does she eat? Does she seem somewhat happy in life (as happy as a snake can be) If it were me and I didn't want to end up spending thousands in vet bills then I would just let her live out her life...you've done quite a bit to help her along and by the sounds of it she's lucky to have made it this far being a problem hatchling. Good luck with your journey with her.

[Miko]

She eats well, I usually try to feed her every 5-7 days. She's still very small and runty, but she has gained weight and instead of 51 grams when she was hatched and is now 84 grams. She was having a hard time getting started for months, but now she eats regularly and happily. She used to have indented scales (probably from malnutrition and dehydration) now her scales look normal. Her umbilical cord also healed well. The only issue is the eye, I just don't want her to lose it or something. >__<

[Coluber42]

Sorry I can't offer any actual veterinary advice. But out of curiosity, can she see out of that side? (I know, it's sort of hard to tell because you can't really be like, "Hey snekie, how many fingers am I holding up?") Is the swollen area tender?
If she is blind on that side anyway, maybe that makes it a little easier if her eye ends up having to be removed. Good luck, let us all know what happens!

[Freakie_frog]

I get the feeling this may just be part of being a super lesser. That's a problem that crops up from time to time with them.

[Crowfingers]

I would ask the vet if the MRI is necessary prior to removing the eye, or if a radiograph would be sufficient (they are usually cheaper). Basically, if the only reason they want to do the MRI is to look for tumors or something (not to figure out where to cut muscles/nerves), but recommend enucleation either way, I personally would skip the MRI and just have the eye removed. Just make sure the vet has done an enucleation on a reptile before or at least did a conference call with an experienced colleague. I've seen several of these surgeries and they don't seem as complicated as say as orthopedic surgery, but they were all done on mammals or birds.

[cristacake]

I know it's hard to imagine losing an eye as a person, but a ball python will fare very well with one eye missing because they use their heat pits and sense of smell to hunt and explore their world to a great extent. So if she does need the eye removed, it is not going to be a big disability to her at all.