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Swollen Cheek Area (Only one side)

21 15:02:02

Question

Her Face
Hi, I just returned from being out of town for a week. My dad was taking care of my iguana while I was gone. In that time a very large swell has appeared on one side of her face. It is the cheek area and has never done this before. She is eating fine and otherwise seems to be fine, but it seems to be much to large. She is about 7 years old and eats a base diet of collard and mustard greens with other things mixed in. What can it be? Thanks.

Answer
Dear Jackie,

You have a beautiful girl! She looks so sweet and cute! Anyhow, keep in mind, I am not a veterinarian, but in my experience, this looks to be an abscess. I am going to copy and paste some information about abscesses into this answer from anapsid.org, which is a very respectable iguana care website...

Abscesses are interesting things... They do not necessarily occur at the site of an injury, and often do not occur in any proximity to an injury - they may form where there was no injury, and may form months after an injury was apparently well-healed.
What is an abscess?
Abscesses are localized infections that generally occur in conjunction with systemic infections. The site may swell noticeably, or the abscess may reside well into the underlying tissue with little change in the skin above. Often there is a slight swelling which begins to ooze a yellowish liquid which may form a crust. As the skin stretches over the underlying swelling, the scales are moved farther apart and the skin in between may be seen. The skin may be reddish with petechia (burst capillaries) or crusty with dried serous fluid.
Why do abscesses form?
Generally speaking, bacteria that gets into a wound, say a minor scratch or puncture wound, from claws. The body's immune system is unable to successfully fight the invader off, and so the wound becomes infected, forming an abscess.

Please evaluate what could be causing your iguana's immune system to become suppressed. You being gone for a week could very well be enough stress to result in a weakened immune system, but also evaluate if your housing conditions could be inducing stress or if there are any other major changes in your iguana's life.

In order to treat an abscess, you will need to seek out a veterinarian who can safely open up the abscess and drain the pus. The iguana will need to have a prescription solution to irrigate the open area and also with antibiotics to prevent further infection. If you do not take care of this problem early, the infection can eat away at bone and cartilage and it could become necessary for a more major operation to be done. Also, if you do not follow through on the antibiotics afterward, your iguana can develop a worse infection.
Abscesses are a common occurrence to take place at least once over the course of an iguana's lifetime. Any veterinarian claiming to treat exotics should have working knowledge of how to handle abscesses and this should almost seem a routine procedure.

Good luck to you and your girl! If you have any further questions, please call upon me again, but also, please get her to a vet soon to have that addressed.

Sara