Crusty Eye

I need help I notice the past couple of weeks my bearded dragon has been getting a little crusty. I took him to the vet and they told me it was because he was shedding. So everytime it got like that I would bathe him and pour a little water over his face and it would clear up. Well after it kept doing it after he was done shedding I did some research on here and I found out that I should change his lights. So I changed out his uvb, basking spot lamp, and infrared basking lamp. Well now his eye has got to the point where it's crusted all over and he can't even open it? Does anyone have any answer to what could be the problem?

As of right now I can't get a picture of him, but I use an reptisun 10.0 uvb

Poor little guy, I'm assuming that the vet you took him to was not a reptile specialist? Yes, please post a photo of both him and his enclosure and lighting, and give us specific details about what exact lights you are using, as well as what his basking spot, Hot Side, and Cool Side temperatures are, and what type of thermometer you are using to measure the temps.

Yes, bad lighting can certainly irritate their eyes, so if you were using a compact or specifically a coiled UVB bulb, or any coiled bulbs, as well as any colored bulbs, it can actually cause a form of photoconjunctivitis, or an actual infection in his eyes that requires prescription antibiotics, both oral or injectable plus a prescription antibiotic ointment or drop.

As already mentioned, you need to get rid of any colored bulbs, whether they are red, blue, yellow, green, it doesn't matter, they are terrible for their eyes and their skin. Beardies see in color just like we do, so any colored lights cause all types of health issues. Plus, they need their enclosure temperature to drop at nighttime, just like it does naturally out in the desert, so 99% of the time beardies need absolutely no heat source on at nighttime. If his enclosure temperature stays at 60 degrees or higher at night then he needs no nighttime heat source at all, he'll actually be way more comfortable at night and will sleep a lot better if his enclosure is pitch black and much cooler than his daytime temps.

All you need for a basking bulb is a bright white bulb. That's it. No colored bulbs, no special "reptile basking bulbs" that the pet shops sell, they are all unnecessary as well as harmful. You want to mimic natural sunlight as closely as you can, so you want a long, flourescent 10.0 UVB tube, the best being a Reptisun 10.0 T8 or T5 High-Output UVB tube, 18" or 24" are the most common lengths. You want no compact (regular lightbulb shaped) or coiled UVB light at all, only long UVB tubes, rated at 10.0 strength, and a long flourescent tube fixture to put it in. And the long UVB tube needs to be right alongside your bright white basking bulb, so he gets both lights at the same time while basking on his basking spot. All you need to buy is one regular, household halogen indoor flood bulb, like the ones you buy at Walmart, Lowes, or Home Depot. I don't know the dimensions of his enclosure, but you should only need one single halogen indoor flood bulb for his basking bulb because if you get the correct wattage it should heat your entire enclosure. I buy mine at either Walmart or Lowes, usually either GE or Phillips brand, and I have enclosures that are 4'x3'x2', so I use a 100 watt halogen flood bulb and it's perfect. I actually picked up a couple GE brand halogen indoor flood bulbs at Walmart yesterday in the clearance aisle for $1 a piece.

As far as his eye goes, the damage is done, so making sure your lights are correct is step one, because if you treat his eye and put him back under bad lighting it will just become infected again. You should go to a drug store or Walmart and buy a bottle of saline eye wash, or Eyedrops that are just saline eyewash, nothing else. You'll need to wash his eye out with the eyewash a couple of times a day, and then he's going to need antibiotics most likely. After we see the photos of him we'll see what we're dealing with, but most likely you'll need to find a reptile specialist to take him to in order to get antibiotics. It may be something that is treatable with antibiotic Terramycin ointment, which you can actually buy now over the counter at Tractor Supply for $15 a tube, but it depends on how bad it is, and whether or not the infection is effecting his appetite, making him lethargic, etc. If that's the case then he needs to see a reptile specialist vet for additional oral or injectable antibiotics in addition to the topical antibiotic ointment.