Emergency! The film of the ear has broken!

[Pasakaina]

I was trying to get some retained shed out of my bearded dragon's ear with some tweezers, and then he flinched and the tweezers caused a smallish tear in the film that covers my bearded dragon's ear. It bled a little, but now it's stopped. Now, though the hole the part of the inside of the ear is visble, mostly what looks like a bone. It doesn't look like anything inside of the ear has been damaged, as only the side of the ear where the film was detached from the skin bled. My bearded dragon doesn't seem to notice the wound. The retained shed is still on the ear, should I just let it be there, and maybe it will act as a protecter to substitute for the broken film?

What should I do?! Help! I feel really guilty about this. It's my fault. I knew that the ear is sensitive, and I should have let the retained shed be.

 

[AHBD]

Oh boy, no sharp objects near the ear, ever ! I know you realize it now and I'm not here to bash you. It actually is probably not as bad as it seems....in humans that can heal on it's own sometimes, so I think same with reptiles.Can you post a picture [ it's called the tympanic membrane ] ? Can you get him to a qualified reptile vet with beardie experience ? Other than that, leave the shed alone and get some unpasteurized honey to dab on it without pushing it in. You can thin the honey down just a tiny bit with warm water [ but don't make it runny ! ] Then be 100% sure there are NO bugs or loose substrate in the tank that can get in the ear and cause infection. Raw honey is a natural antibacterial/antibiotic and can promote tissue growth. It should be in every beardie first aid kit.But there's agood chance it will heal on it's own. Don't bathe him or get water in it...give him water with an eyedropper for now on his snout so he can't get water in it during a bath.

 

[Pasakaina]

Thanks for replying.
There is no loose substrate, I use newspaper.There are some pretty small flies that live in the tank that I can't seem to get rid of, though. I doubt that they will get into the ear though, especially since I've covered it with a band-aid. (Don't worry, I didn't put the band-aid in the ear, but above it, so that the band-aid covers the ear-hole enough so that nothing can get in. Mazais doesn't seem to notice the band-aid and isn't rubbing the area.

It seems as though the injury has started healing. The film seems to be re-growing a bit over the area where there is no film. The film isn't completely covering the injury yet. I haven't noticed any puss or swelling or any other discharge coming from the ear, which is good. Hopefully it stays that way. Mazais is still acting normal, she doesn't seem to notice the injury at all. There is no blackbearding or other change in behavior. I have noticed a bit of yellowish-greenish stuff on the film of the ear. A tiny speck of it. It looks like the beginning of a scab, sort of, and is hard and solid looking.

Yeah, I knew that it was risky to do what I did with the tweezers, but I didn't know that the ear was so incredibly fragile. I've learned my lesson! But the injury seems like it's doing pretty well, same as my beardie seems fine.

 

[AHBD]

That's great to hear, and the bandaid is a good idea. Hopefully no flies will bother it....try your best to get them out of there.