Prolapsed 3rd Eye - Post Surgery

[Scooter_in_Kindergarten]

Prolapsed 3rd Eye - Post Surgery
Scooter’s Surgery was Tuesday morning and he is recovering at home with me. The outcome of the surgery was not what I had hoped for, and the original idea of just draining the mass/swollen gland wasn’t what the Vet eventually concluded would be the best course of action.
The Vet said that first he corrected the eye putting the gland back into the correct position, under the eye, and because the gland was so enlarged it made his eye somewhat pop out too far. He was worried that this would cause later problems and therefore the only resolve was to remove the gland completely. SO, Scooter no longer has the Gland in his eye that produces tears or the membrane. (I can’t remember the specific terms if anyone can help me out) He has a few sutures in his eye that will dissolve and I am going back in one week.
I can’t remember much more of the specifics; he is back on the same medication as before 3 times a day with an additional .25cc of an antibiotic. I can give you the name of the antibiotic when I get home, it needs to be kept in the fridge and it smells like candy. Haha.
As you can see in the pictures I will post, his eye is still there; it’s just sunk into his head a little. The Vet said he is hopeful that they eye will eventually go back to its normal position once he has used it more. He used the analogy of having a cast on your leg, how the muscle that is not being used gets smaller. He thinks that since the gland was pushing on his eye for so long and it wasn’t being used it has depleted a bit. I have my doubts it will go back to normal but we are hoping.

[Scooter_in_Kindergarten]

Pictures of his eye. It was hard to get these. He keeps it closed a lot because I'm sure it hurts. Also, in one picture his eye looks very wet: that is the ocular lube that I have to apply 3x daily.

[Scooter_in_Kindergarten]

Above view, you can see they eye is more sunk in than the other.

[Nae]

Ouch, poor baby I hope everything turns out for the best~

[WanderingChai]

Aww, poor little guy. Sending good wishes! I'm sure he'll make a full recovery.

[Linnea]

poor skink D: but at least now you can await recovery instead of seeing it get worse!

though it must be hard to apply the drops three times daily for 20 years or more....

[Karen]

I'm sure this wasn't easy for Scooter, you, or your bank account, but I hope everything pulls together. I'm sure Scooter appreciates having an owner that's wiling to do so much. I suppose now it is a waiting game to see how he heals, but I wish you both all the best.

[Spindown]

poor darling! I'm glad he has such a good owner! Best wishes to you and Scooter, feel better soon little fella!

[Scooter_in_Kindergarten]

Thank you so much for you caring get well wishes and support. I've grown so much closer to my lil Scoot through all of this, and your sympathy means more than you know It is very hard when a beloved pet is suffering.
I'll post again with updated pics as Scoot heals in the next few days.

[Bird_Brain]

So sorry to hear it didnt go as planned, however, he looks like he is doing very well! Scooter is very lucky to have ended up in your care. I can't imagine if he was in another person's care what the outcome of this circumstance would have been!

[Katrina]

Wow. Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with us, so we can all learn from it. And, to echo others sentiments - thank you so much for doing all of this for Scooter. He is very, very lucky to be in your care.

Will those eye drop need to be applied 3X daily for life?

[Scooter_in_Kindergarten]

The eye drops will only need to be applied 3 times a day for the next week, while he is still recovering. Scooter and I are basically attached at the hip. haha.

I asked the Vet about the future of his eye, and if I would have to apply the ocular lubricant/drops daily. The Vet seemed to think that it wasn't going to be nessesary. He said, hopefully it could be every few days, even every 10 days. So that is good news. It all depends on how he recovers this next week. We will find out on Tuesday

Good news though, Scooter is doing really good, his eye is already starting to move back into normal position. He still keeps it closed a lot, I'm thinking cuz it is sensitive to light and it hurts.
It will probably never look 'normal' again but I will still love him, or her (the Vet guesses female)

The vet visits and surgery did cost me a pretty penny, some people will be missing out on nice gifts this holiday season, but in the end I had no other option. And thank you again for giving your support, a lot of teachers at school thought I was nuts to be going to such extremes. "It's just a lizard."

[Karen]

And thank you again for giving your support, a lot of teachers at school thought I was nuts to be going to such extremes. "It's just a lizard."

I got the same reaction when I mentioned my vet bills to some of my peers. Even my vet was rather surprised when I was willing to pay for everything. She said not many people opted to do much to help most of the reptiles that are brought in, which I found very sad. No doubt many more don't even bother bringing a sick reptile to the vet at all. Be glad you're one of the good guys!

[Katrina]

That's not a good lesson for kids - don't bother to with expensive vet care because it is just a lizard? Its sad when role models feel that way, I hate how some people feel that reptiles are disposable pets. It is fairly common thought.

[Coomassie]

And thank you again for giving your support, a lot of teachers at school thought I was nuts to be going to such extremes. "It's just a lizard."

Good for you and clearly they have never had a BTS. It isn't just a lizard!

[StaceyLeigh]

Wow what a lot to go through, for you and Scooter! I hope he heals quickly. Cheers to you for taking such awesome care of him!!

[JR]

And thank you again for giving your support, a lot of teachers at school thought I was nuts to be going to such extremes. "It's just a lizard."

No, (s)he's your lovely little BTS!!

I hope the best for Scooter! I'm sure he's happy having so good owner

[Jeff]

Kudos to you for going the extra mile. Yeh, it's just a lizard, and she will never be able to repay you. What a fool you are!

“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”

-James D. Miles

[Scooter_in_Kindergarten]

Jeff, wow, what a nice quote.

This is exactly why this site is so great, its all of us who support eachother when others dont 'get it' Scooter is more than 'just a lizard' here is a pic from today at school. It is already looking so much better!

[Scooter_in_Kindergarten]

this is how his eye looks 50% of the time. It almost seems like, since the gland is gone, he has a bit of extra space in the eye socket so the eye moves around a lot. They other 50% of the time they eye looks sunk in and kinda lost in the eye socket.