Shedding \ Eye Issue. Help Appreciated...

We normally have a vet that visits once weekly but he's unable to make his stop this week. We have a juvenile leopard gecko that looks as if it just had a rough shed, the shed skin in the torso area has shed just perfectly, but its head looks as if it has not. Especially the areas surrounding the eyes. Her eyes seem to be covered\closed.

I'd like opinions on the best way to remedy this issue, I figured I'd ask before attempting anything myself considering this seems to be something many of you have probably encountered in the past.

Thanks.

BTW, one eye looks nearly shut\swollen, and the other is halfway and seems obstructed. The frightening thing is that her setup is absolutely perfect and yesterday when examined she was fine and looked as if she was just starting a good shed. Upon examination today I was amazed to find her in this state.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

I had that happen to a leo about a year ago and used a wash rag soaked in warm water and held it on the eye area. It may take several trys, I just kept sure the rag stayed warm and held it on the eye area for a minute or so every hour until the bad skin shed off.

If its not shed and a possible eye infection the warm soak may help relieve pain or swelling until you can have her looked at.

Residual shed on the head, face, eyes is not uncommon, but the swelling concerns me. First, take a tupperware-type container and put a few small holes in the lid. Fill it with warm (~95-98*) water just high enough to touch the gecko's belly, and soak her in it until the water turns cold. This will create a 'steam bath', thus allowing for easier removal of residual, unshed skin. Then, using a Q-tip, wet one end with normal saline solution, and gently rub it across the eye in a rolling motion. This should help facilitate the eyelid skin to loosen up. If this is unsuccessful after a few attempts, then swab some Bag Balm (available in the cosmetics dept. of drugs stores, Walmart, etc.) on the eye and let it soak in for a few hours, and try the Q-tip again. Ideally, if you have any kind of petroleum based opthalmic antibiotic cream, use it!
Good luck!

Well I've placed her in a delicup with moist medium, and I'll wait to see a few more replies to see if anything further should be attempted. Usually in similar situations something like a moist container usually works but I wanted to make certain before attempting anything else. She has a moist hide just like all of our other leos, but apparently it seems she was not using it.

The eye that was partially closed has opened and seems to be clear only an hour or so after being restricted to the moist deli cup, but the other shut\swollen eye is still the same. I'd rather not physcially touch her eye unless is absolutely necessary.

i have seen this happen before. generally ir was one of three situations
1) stuck shed causing swelling or infection in eye
b) for some reason babies with MBD or a calcium deficiancy will get this (not MBD yet)
and
c) check the eyelid for any mild deformities (incomplete eyelids, horizontal or verticle eyelid slits this is generally what cause is in most babies that get this). It starts out from either
1) vit A deficiancy
2) temps
and from what i have seen is NOT genetic but caused from the above factors

using sterile saline to wash the eye is fine... try to use a lint free or as close to lint free coth... do not rub whipe in one direction and dab. also a good safe drop (no viseen) is "refresh liquigel drops"
i use em makes the eyes very lubricated, without any harsh aditives.
when i have had this i use triple antibiotic ointment right on the eye if the steam baths dont work or it continues to crust up
sometimes right at birth the deformity is so small it is not visible but as the gecko grows you either end up seeing it or end up with this eye problem because of it.

my sisteres teacher had somthing like this happen, but much worse, the shed was retained on its head for about 2 months, it was so bad that it destroyed the leos eyes, she had left it with me for a week, to try and get the shed off, and monitor it, i did somthing similar to what marcia suggested, after about 6 minutes i took the gecko out and started to slowly peel away the shed,..there had to be about 4 layers..as i got to its eyes i noticed they where yellow, i stoped there and took it to a vet, he peels off the rest, including the shed over the yes..needless to say..the gecko lost both eyes that how bad the shed ws...it seemed like a piece of attached shed got stuck in both eyes, and caused an infection

i would soak her like marcia suggested befor it can get any worse, if the shed is moist when she os done, either get a tweezer, or use a q-tip to gently rub the shed off

She's fine. I put her in her own delicup with moist substrate, and put her in our high end incubator for a little while. After her "sauna session" she came out absolutely perfect. Thanks for all the assistance everyone.

Good job, Chris! I'm glad to hear she's doing fine.

In the future, for those that don't have a high-end incubator, I've used the method Marcia and the others mentioned for a 'steam bath', but placed it halfway on my heat tape to keep the water warm. I would do water instead of any type of moist substrate, so that the gecko didn't lodge anything in its eye in its efforts to remove the skin. When they're trying to shed, leos tend to rub a lot on anything and everything, including the ground. Just a thought.

Glad she is ok!!