stuck shed in eye

[Kilikina]

i came home from a weekend away for thanksgiving and found Kiki to have some shed in her eye. since i was away for about 5 days i'm not sure exactly how long it's been since she shed, but probably a couple days at most. she ate fine when i got home and had a very healthy appetite and acted completely normal, out and about more than normal if anything.. so she didn't act like it was bothering her. but it is very noticeable. it doesn't look like she can close her eye completely.. i wish this would have happened when i'd been here! (or better yet, not happened at all!) i just feel awful that i had to come home to this. what can i do for her? i'm not sure if i should try rubbing it with a q-tip since it's in her eye. i know you can use tweezers for stuck shed, but again, i don't want to hurt her poor eye

 

[myjoyoverflows]

I've never been in that situation...but I would think that the q-tip would be okay as long as you're gentle...it would be better (in my opinion) for her to have it off her eye with a little bit of discomfort than to leave it there with the possiblity of something going wrong. I'm not experienced in that happening...but that's what I would do if I were in your situation...

 

[nats]

Is it actually on the eyeball?

Can you irrigate it out with a syringe of warm water?

 

[geckdude97]

don't use the q-tip. I've had this happen to my female leopard gecko before and all you can do is wait till she gets it off her eye. cause if you pull it off it can hurt their eyeball.

 

[Kilikina]

okay.. thank you. waiting is what i'd prefer to do, since i don't want to risk hurting her at all.

nats, its not on the eyeball, but it seems to be attached to the inner eyelid. i took a couple pictures last night, and though the lighting wasn't very good, you can see it a little... i'll post them this evening when i get home from school.

 

[nats]

okay.. thank you. waiting is what i'd prefer to do, since i don't want to risk hurting her at all.

nats, its not on the eyeball, but it seems to be attached to the inner eyelid. i took a couple pictures last night, and though the lighting wasn't very good, you can see it a little... i'll post them this evening when i get home from school.

Oh.
Sounds like it would be very difficult to remove w/ tweezers.
Your leo would never hold still for that, and you could risk injury.

 

[Kilikina]

that's exactly what i was thinking. which is what i'm worried about.. i also just don't know how she'll get it out herself since it's in there. it doesn't seem like she could easily just rub it off or something.. i made sure her humid hide is nice and wet, so hopefully that will help since it had dried out by the time i got back.

 

[Kilikina]

okay, here are some pictures.. sorry they aren't the greatest or the clearest, but they should give some idea of how it's in there.

 

[nats]

It looks like it's on the outside rim of the upper eyelid!?

If so, and if it's not actually "in" the eye, I would not worry about it.
It will probably come off in the next shed.
Have you seen her rubbing against stuff trying to get it off?

 

[Kilikina]

it sort of looks that way in pictures, but in real life it looks more like its attatched to the inner part of the lid.
her behavior has still been completely normal with as healthy an appetite as ever and wandering around her tank as much as she ever has.
i haven't seen her trying to rub it off or anything that would indicate she even realizes it's there. however, she can't close her eye completely because it's in the way, so it doesn't look completely comfortable...
also, look at the second picture... does her eye look a little sunken in to you or something? i don't know.. it doesn't look completely normal to me.

 

[nats]

The eye does not look normal to me either, I just thought it was
the picture!? I have never seen so much white in a leos eyes.
Does the other eye look like that?
I dont know what else to suggest except irrigating w/ a saline solution.

Can you post some better pics?

 

[Kilikina]

both her eyes are always that white-ish color.

i'll try to get some better pictures later this evening after i get back from class, as long as kiki and my camera cooperate.

 

[Bert-N-Sheila]

I had this many times. I've had luck with saline solution and the cosmetic(pointed) cotton swabs. such as: http://www.qosmedix.com/newsletter/14_point_flat_cotton_swabs.asp

I have a blizzard that has so many problems I wouldn't know where to start. For almost two years now I have had to use tweezers at least twice a month. It sounds crazy because of how dangerous it is. All I can really say is it is my only solution. She luckily accepts me being extrememly firm with her head. I put my index finger below her jaw and push my thumb to the top of her head firmly so she cannot move head. Again sounds a lot worse than it really is. It takes a lot of patience the first few times. You also sort of get a handling feeling of being able to ignore the body wiggles and concentrate on only the head. (sort of like a snake, but a lot more spine support with your other fingers)

I do not suggest using my technique, but I certainly wanted you to know it's not unheard of. I am sure there are many people who have done this at one time or numerous times for that matter.

Try the pointed cotton swab first with a saline solution and try working it out. You may go through 10 swabs since the point will soak up too much solution and become dull. Don't try digging at it too long because cotton is irritating if you could imagine.

 

[Kilikina]

i haven't been able to get any better pictures today.
while it doesn't exactly look any better, it also doesn't look any worse.

she's still acting and eating totally normally.
i have been hoping that if i let nature take it's course, she'll get it out somehow.. but if it's still not better by tomorrow, i'll do something about it.

do you think there's any possible chance it will come off with her next shed?

 

[Snowy & Petra de Gecko]

PM

PM one of the caretakers of the site. They may have had some experience with the issue.

 

[Kilikina]

thanks

 

[Kilikina]

so, i bought some saline and squirted that in her eye a few times. it finally came out last night when she shed. i'm very relieved! she's sleeping now, and her eye still isn't closed all the way.. a little more than when the shed was in there, but not all the way. i'm not too worried, though.. i figure it'll close more and more as she gets used to it being gone.

 

[Pepper]

I'm glad it's gone!

It probably was irritating her, so it may take her eye a few days to close.

 

[Lady_Kiya]

That doesn't look like it's on her eyeball. Kiya recently had the same thing happen. What I did was use a moist Qtip and gently pat it. Then (if your gecko is fairly patient and tame enough to sit still) I used tweezers and lightly pulled it off.