Blocked Tear Duct

Spider8ait1994

Hatchling Member
Not so much a question as it is sharing about one of my rescues.
Some of you have probably already seen a bunch of stuff I’ve posted about my rescue dragon Spike.
He has a blocked tear duct in his left eye that’s resulted in some swelling toward the front of the eye (under the skin and toward the snout end of the eye) alongside the eye being very watery. He would also have some mornings where the eye would be very gummed up and stuck closed so I’d have to clean if off for him.
Not surprisingly it was uncomfortable for him and he’d be scratching and rubbing at it.
The vet I see checked his eye out and in doing so discovered that Spike has decreased vision in his left eye. That said there’s no indication of any condition that would cause progressive vision loss.
With regards to the blocked tear duct the treatment plan he’s on is having a positive effect in improving the eye (swelling is going down, eye isn’t gumming up, less watery, less discomfort, tear duct is draining out better)
He’s been having Chloropt eye cream twice daily alongside Meloxicam every second day and he did a course of 5 Ceftazidine injections over the space of 2 weeks with one being given every third day.
Hopefully this helps others with this situation and gives some treatment options to bring up with a vet if they haven’t already been tried.
The Chloropt is something new that Spike’s vet wanted to try as they hadn’t previously used it on reptiles as it is intended for dogs and cats but it does seem to be working without any adverse issues.
Chloropt is an eye antibiotic that contains Chloramphenicol at a concentration of 1mg/g.
In a pinch my vet has also given the go ahead to use Chlorsig (a human eye antibiotic) as it contains the exact same substance at the exact same concentration. I asked about this as I have a full unopened tube that’s still within its usage date left over from a surgery I had last year and realised they’re the same thing just marketed for different creatures 😂
 

Nikki.D

Hatchling Member
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Garnie
Not so much a question as it is sharing about one of my rescues.
Some of you have probably already seen a bunch of stuff I’ve posted about my rescue dragon Spike.
He has a blocked tear duct in his left eye that’s resulted in some swelling toward the front of the eye (under the skin and toward the snout end of the eye) alongside the eye being very watery. He would also have some mornings where the eye would be very gummed up and stuck closed so I’d have to clean if off for him.
Not surprisingly it was uncomfortable for him and he’d be scratching and rubbing at it.
The vet I see checked his eye out and in doing so discovered that Spike has decreased vision in his left eye. That said there’s no indication of any condition that would cause progressive vision loss.
With regards to the blocked tear duct the treatment plan he’s on is having a positive effect in improving the eye (swelling is going down, eye isn’t gumming up, less watery, less discomfort, tear duct is draining out better)
He’s been having Chloropt eye cream twice daily alongside Meloxicam every second day and he did a course of 5 Ceftazidine injections over the space of 2 weeks with one being given every third day.
Hopefully this helps others with this situation and gives some treatment options to bring up with a vet if they haven’t already been tried.
The Chloropt is something new that Spike’s vet wanted to try as they hadn’t previously used it on reptiles as it is intended for dogs and cats but it does seem to be working without any adverse issues.
Chloropt is an eye antibiotic that contains Chloramphenicol at a concentration of 1mg/g.
In a pinch my vet has also given the go ahead to use Chlorsig (a human eye antibiotic) as it contains the exact same substance at the exact same concentration. I asked about this as I have a full unopened tube that’s still within its usage date left over from a surgery I had last year and realised they’re the same thing just marketed for different creatures 😂
Spike’s a tough cookie!
 

xp29

BD.org Addict
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Zen , Ruby ,Snicker Doodles, Sweet Pea, Sinatra
I remember your other thread, I'm glad he is having improvement, hopefully it clears completely up.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

We all love informative threads so that we can always continue to learn. There is always something
that seems to come up that is hard to figure out & to treat successfully.
Do you have new pictures so we can see his progress?

Tracie
 

Spider8ait1994

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Hello,

We all love informative threads so that we can always continue to learn. There is always something
that seems to come up that is hard to figure out & to treat successfully.
Do you have new pictures so we can see his progress?

Tracie
Sure I have a few I’ve taken and been sharing with his vet I’ll post here. This first image I have compiled from before he started the eye cream and then comparisons of 1 week of having the eye cream. I have made an error with the date on the lower left image which should say 15/1/23 and not 7/2/23.
The second image is one I took 24/2/23. I took this with a macro lens and got lucky in that he blinked as I took it so I captured the inflammation really well. I asked the vet about that patterning you can see in it and they informed me that it’s a normal appearance of inflamed tissue that’s vascular. He’s having gradual improvements and will have another checkup in April. I don’t have any more recent images of his eye as I myself have had surgery recently.
I’ve also included here a photo of the specific eye cream he’s being treated with as a visual reference for anyone looking for an eye cream that can be used in bearded dragons. I’ll definitely be updating this thread with more progress images when I have them. As for now his eye is a lot less watery and isn’t sticking closed after he’s been asleep anymore. He’s not appearing to be in as much discomfort as pre-treatment
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5585864C-24C4-4ED0-B54E-E87C8E899420.jpeg
 

Spider8ait1994

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
image.jpg
image.jpg
I know it’s been a while but I have an update as of a few days ago that may have changed the thinking of what his eye issue actually is.
Initially we thought it was a blocked tear duct due to the placement and the fact that fluid would drain with moderate applied pressure.
We are not thinking that there is a chance the issue is actually a formation of tissue around a foreign object that had found its way in under the membrane.
About 3 days ago he’d had another scratch at his eye and this time had managed to detach and pull out some of that mass which was certainly shocking.
I cleaned him up, made sure any bleeding had stopped and flushed out the eye with some saline then gave him a dose of Meloxicam and an eye antibiotic cream.
Got in contact with the vet that’s been treating him to share what he’d done and give them some info on the tissues characteristics. In both appearance and texture it looked a lot like blood clot/a mass of coagulated blood and I did note in the centre of all this was what appeared to be a single old scale. And thinking back I do remember right before all this started he WAS shedding around his eyes.
He has another check up in the coming weeks where they’ll have a better look but I have noted that since this incident the swelling has gone down very significantly and he seems more active and able to see better.
As a precaution I am going to for the meantime at least continue the eye cream but at this point I haven’t seen any signs of infection or further noticeable damage and it doesn’t seem to have swollen up again.
Initially when he came to the vets for this the vet DID flush the eye out to check for debris and didn’t find anything so I’m thinking while he was shedding a scale came loose, dropped into his eye and he’s then blinked/rubbed it right back deep under the membrane where it’s gotten stuck.
The images here are taken today so front on you can see the eyes are closer to the same size as opposed to the left one bulging out noticeably more. The eye itself is definitely cleared and opened up wider and additionally where in the previous photos I’ve been able to expose the mass by applying gentle pressure there not doesn’t appear to be any mass in there.
 

Spider8ait1994

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
So this will be the final update to this thread with the resolution to this eye issue.
The problem: Left eye appeared swollen in comparison to the right eye with watery discharge resembling a watering eye and crusty buildup over time.
The theories: Previous oral mass growing back into the eye space; blocked tear duct; debris in eye.
Actions taken: Vet visit which consisted of flushing out the eye, prescribing Meloxicam (every 2nd-3rd day) and Chloropt eye ointment (twice daily). Follow up vet visits to monitor progress. At home monitoring of the eye.
Events: Spike would occassionally scratch at the eye, sometimes resulting in minor bleeding. This occurred on 3 occassions with the last occassion taking place on the 25th of May ~ 3 months after the eye issue began. On this occassion he actually managed to pull the mass entirely out of the eye. First aid was applied and precautions against infection to the eye were taken (flushing the eye out with saline, ensuring any bleeding was stopped, Meloxicam for comfort and Chloropt ointment).
The result: The eye swelling went down near immediately and by the following day no swelling at all was present. Further monitoring of the eye has shown the mass has not formed again at all, the eye is bright and clear, alert and he is not squinting or holding the eye closed. No discharge of any sort from the eye with a noted improvement in appetite ns activity levels. Does not appear to be any issues with vision in the eye.
Notes: Given the circumstances in which the issue cleared up and an examination of the mass Spike removed from his eye which showed it to consist of soft tissue with what appeared to be a single old shed scale in the centre alongside my recollection that he was in fact shedding around the affected eye shortly before the issue began, also with the drastic improvement post removal of the mass and its lack of reoccurance leads me to believe that the root cause of the problem was in fact a foreign body (shed scale) that had entered the eye, been rubbed or blinked right in deep under the eye membrane where it wasn’t reached by the initial eye flush performed at the initial vet visit and in time tissue had formed around the scale in the eye resulting in the swelling, visible mass, eye discharge and discomfort. Contact via email with his Vet in which I have explained what’s gone on and provided photos has had the Vet agree with this theory as being the problem particularly since the issue has not reoccurred.
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This was certainly a bit of a mystery to begin with with neither myself or the Vet being certain of the cause of the problem but at the very least it’s sorted out now and hopefully this thread will be helpful to anyone else dealing with a similar mystery eye swelling.
Don’t know if I can change the thread title to better suit now I know it wasn’t a tear duct issue but if I can I’ll change it.
 

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