Still has eye issues, Still doing well

I posted about this a while back but I thought I would do a new post instead of bumping an old one.

My dragon Crunch is about 14 years old, and over the last few years she's developed an issue with her eyes.



Some sort of weird goop was appearing in her eyes. It appeared to come from her tears when she closed her eyes, it would then harden and new goop would form until it became big enough to fall out. The problem was it sometimes glued her eyes shut, so I had to rinse it with water, then dry it and carefully pull it out. Crunch is a very good patient, she understands how I'm helping her and closes her eyes which makes it easier to pull the goop out, then opens them to test whether it has left or not. If she is unsatisfied she closes her eyes again.

I asked for help from the forum and many suggestions were given, most notably I changed my UV tube from a crap Chinese made brand to a Repti-Glo 10.0. I know most people advocate Reptisun, but they are pretty much impossible to find in Australia. Anyway, I wasn't really convinced this was the solution, as I had used that same brand for a while and she only recently(ish) developed the problem. I also had a male in the same tank who didn't develop the issue (he passed away in May, RIP). I also changed the substrate from wood chips to paper towel. I thought this for sure would fix the issue but alas, it has been several months and nothing has changed.

I also considered it could be an infection, but the vet couldn't verify that and she has had it for so long that I would have thought she'd have fought it off by now.

Crunch is in good health, she eats everyday and poops everyday, and is very friendly. I'm thinking that maybe she is just old and this might just be a byproduct of that. Like I said, she's had this for ages and nothing I've done has stopped this from happening.

Thoughts?

Setup:
Reptiglo 10.0 tube
Ceramic heater - Basking temp 36C controlled by thermostat
2' x 3' x 2' Wooden Tank
Substrate: Paper Towel
Diet: Yellow Squash, Kale, Zucchini, Carrot(though she doesn't eat it), Occasional pumpkin, Crickets with Calcium and Vitamin Dusting - Fed everyday in Summer, Fed whenever she wakes up in Winter
Other: Gets put outside for 3-4 hours in the Summer in good weather, Fortnightly baths

It could be that the tear ducts are plugged and not draining properly. A dye test can show if this is the case. My buddy Dundee had that issue the whole time I had him. I just had to use saline solution and a q-tip to gently clear the mucous when it built up so it didn't crust up and he could open his eye.

Good to see someone else has delt well with the issue, I couldn't find anyone else who had experienced this. Blocked tear ducts sounds like it's the problem.