dark spot on Beardie

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msmtinct

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My female beardie also has a dark spot on her lower back. I took her to a reptile vet and she sold me a silver antibiotic cream (Silver Sulfadiazine Cream 1%) to put on 2x day. That seems to be for bacterial and yeast infections. I did that for 3 weeks and it still seems to be there though it might have improved a tiny bit. It's hard to see depending on her skin color, but most visible in the sun when she turns lighter.

The vet was suggesting surgery--which I would want to avoid! = :( When she saw her she suggested it might be fungal.Has anyone had any luck with other home remedies? I started applying colloidal silver as it's supposed to be good for fungal and bacterial infections.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I will post a pic later.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Yes, there are no pics showing up. Did you use the XIMG tab to upload your pics to your post ?
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Yes, it's qite visible in your picture....I have seen something very similar here but it was long ago and I don't rember what exactly it was. Might be a small cyst of some sort, or a fungal growth as your vet suggested. It might be something harmless that never causes any problem, sort of like we get skin tags + moles. A skin scraping by your vet can determine more precisely what it is.

Keep doing what you'r doing, you might also get some betadine [ water it down to look like dark iced tea ] and apply that at one point during the day but after it dries put your other topicals on. You might send a p.m. to Drache613 [ Tracie is one of the mods. ] to get her thoughts on it.
 

msmtinct

Member
Original Poster
Thanks so much. The vet did scrape it but really wasn't sure what it was. She prescribed the silver ointment and that's about it. She did suggest surgery--which sounds drastic and I fear it might do more harm then good. I will try the Betadine as suggested. How do I send her a message?
 

EllenD

Gray-bearded Member
I wouldn't do surgery to remove it until you know exactly what it is, as if your vet just goes in to remove it, depending on how she approaches removing it, and it's something with a deep blood supply or something that could spread easily, etc. she could cause more damage than anything. If she wanted to do a needle biopsy or better yet another skin scraping and send the sample out to an outside lab for pathology and microscopy to diagnose it, that would be my first step. Once you know exactly what it is then go from there. I'm sure your vet is thinking that it's a malignant lesion of some sort, as I've seen squamous cell carcinoma that looked similar to this, it could be, but it could also be a host of other things, from a fungus to a bacterial infection to a viral lesion like a wart to a cyst or a small abscess. Since all of those conditions are treated differently I would highly recommend getting either the same vet or a different vet (second opinions are always a good idea) send out a second skin scraping for diagnosis to an outside lab.

If this vet wasn't an experienced reptile vet then you might want to try to find one, either way don't be afraid to force the issue of getting the lesion positively identified before anything like surgery is discussed, as an efficient medical treatment may be available depending on what it is.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

I agree, I really don't think surgery is needed unless for some reason it was indicated that there was cancer present & a tumor was developing.
How long have you been using the silver cream?
I would try to get another opinion so that you can get a skin scraping/culture sent off to test it for cancerous cells or for fungal cells.
Grapefruit seed extract taken orally has been shown to be very helpful for fungal infections so you could consider trying that for her also, in case it is fungal.
How is her appetite?

Tracie
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Has the cream made any difference for that spot, at all?
Are you treating it once daily or more often? If that isn't working, maybe you could try some
raw, unpasteurized honey to put on it to see if that helps some.
I'm glad to hear that he is eating & active, so it doesn't seem like he is being affected by it.

Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie
 

msmtinct

Member
Original Poster
I did it 2x a day for 3 weeks and then started trying the other things and doing it 1x a day. It seemed a tiny bit better but not gone.

She is generally active and eating and had a good bill of health otherwise at her check up.

Drache613":1128t37s said:
Hello,

Has the cream made any difference for that spot, at all?
Are you treating it once daily or more often? If that isn't working, maybe you could try some
raw, unpasteurized honey to put on it to see if that helps some.
I'm glad to hear that he is eating & active, so it doesn't seem like he is being affected by it.

Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,


That is good, I hope the area improves even more. I'm glad to hear it isn't affecting his appetite or energy though.
If it is just a little fungal area though, it will definitely need to be watched to be sure it doesn't look
to be spreading.
Keep us posted on your dragon!

Tracie
 

msmtinct

Member
Original Poster
I hope so soon. It's been quite some time that she's had the spot as I didn't go to the vet initially--it was cold out and my elderly cat was dying so I was focused on him. It has definitely not gotten any larger.
 
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