my pet rat has irritated eye

Question
Hi i a asked you a few weeks ago about my rat that has a lot of the red dirt poryphin
around his eye and have been told that it was surely an eyelash rubbing the eye .
I also went to the vet and told her that.She confirmed it because the eye itself looked fine
but was probably iritated.
She told me to use a special kind of thea(which im using)put it in warm water and put it on
the eye.ive been doing that a while  now but it seems to only help clean away the dirt
but that could be good cause i cant do anything about  the eyelash.
BUT this problem is now already taking SEVERAL MONTHS and im getting kinda stresed out.
So please tell me if im doing something wrong and if its normal to take this long to go over.
Thanks for listining

Answer
Dear Luke,

If the vet was a good rat vet (exotics or pocket pets) then I would trust the vet-- but maybe call her.

Unfortunately, an ingrown eyelash can grow back over and over in the same spot. On a person you can pluck it when it gets big enough to bother you, but I do not think anyone would be capable of plucking an ingrown eyelash on a rat.

Give the vet a call and ask if it would make sense to use antibiotics-- which will not help if the problem is simply an ingrown eyelash. My guess is she will tell you the same thing----- but she is trained; I am not.

I'm curious about which tea she recommended-- maybe you can write back after speaking to the vet; and then you can let me know. It will help me to help another rat.

Also, if the vet has no answer, I can at least float the question to other rat people I know.

best of luck and health to the ratty.

squeaks,

Natasha