Pigs eyes are swollen?

Question
Hello! I've had my pot bellied/juliani pig (Penny) for four years now. She is four years old and a bit over 40 pounds. She lived inside my house for 3 and 1/2 years but always had access to the yard via doggy door. Penny had her own pen inside that I would put her in every night to sleep. But a few months ago we made a bigger pen in the yard for her. We wanted a more permanent place to put her because she is aggressive to visitors and we felt bad locking her up in a small pen when guests came over. I have tried so many different things to stop her from snapping at other people but none of them have worked. If you have any suggestions, that would be great! Anyways, her eyes started getting really goopy four weeks ago. I was thinking she was just adjusting to being a more outdoor pig and that it was just a natural defense from dust. But when we were cuddling and I tried to clean them out, she started growling at me and wouldn't let me near them. She usually lets me clean them so I knew she was in pain. She has a black face and under all of the red/brown goop her face appeared grey (raw & a bit puffy). I contacted the vet (the only one I know that sees pigs) and he wasn't available for an entire week. I knew she was in pain so I researched and found that you can put terramycin on them. I ran over to the feed store right away to pick some up. It started working right away so I cancelled the vet. I put it on her for an entire week. After that, I stopped. Her eyes were still goopy (I had a hard time cleaning them) but they weren't puffy. Her eyes always looked perfectly clear and healthy even though the surrounding area was puffy. Her eyelashes aren't growing into her eyes! Today I noticed her eyelids are puffy again and goopy. I'm going to start putting terramycin on them (two weeks instead of just one this time) but I don't know if it will work. Do you know what could be going on with her eyes?
Thank you for your time,
-Kellie

Answer
Piggy may be allergic to something or may be getting some sort of irritant in her eyes. Check her pen area for things like rotting wood or weeds with sticky seeds. Foxtail weeds in particular have seeds that can get stuck under the eyelid.

Another possibility is this is a wound from a sharp object like a piece of sharp wire from a fence. Pigs love to rub their eyes and faces on things, and can poke themselves on sharp objects.

If you can, try washing her eyes at least once a day with a soft, damp cloth. Get as much junk off as you can each time.

Try using artificial tears or eye drops, the kind contact wearers use, from the drug store. Avoid the "gets the red out" kind, pick plain tear replacement or eye wash. Flush piggy's eyes if you can.