recently my beardie got a little too close to her lamp and got the area above her eye burned. i immediately applied cold water and later a dab of raw honey to help it heal. it's been 3 days now, and while it originally seemed to be improving, it has developed into a blister-like appearance (clearish, looks like it has fluid in it) and is swelling.
about 2 hours ago she started to keep her eye closed on the side with the blister, and it seems to hurt her if it contacts anything (she swipes her eye with her foot). she can open her eye, but opens it only halfway before closing it again.
(the shine on it is the honey)
should i take her to the vet, or wait to see if it starts to clear up? i'm concerned about it getting worse than it is, especially if it's painful for her. ;-;
Hopefully the raw honey will help. The most important thing is to keep it from getting infected, especially if the blister bursts (hopefully it won't). It's probably a good idea to have a check up with an experienced vet as well, especially if the swelling doesn't subside. A vet may have some additional treatment that may be helpful. I don't like to have my basking lamps any closer than about 12'' from the highest basking area to prevent contact. A wire cage as KingofNobbys suggested is a good idea if that distance can't be set.
update; went to the vet and everything went very well. the vet rubbed betadine on the blister in prep for removing the fluid, but the skin was fragile enough the fluid went out on its own (thanks to the honey!)
she's a lot happier; no more swelling/pain. i got 3 days of oral pain meds for her while it heals but other than that she's doing much better. i'll keep applying dabs of honey on it until it fully heals meanwhile.