Chinese water dragon eye problem

Question
We have a pet chinese water dragon and he is about eight months old. Since about four weeks ago he has not been opening his eyes. We swab them with q-tips and then he will start to open them put closes them rite back up and we can see the whites of his eyes and they seem a little red. With this problem we have to hand feed him because he will not eat on his own. His color is still great, we have a good size tank and the rite lighting. But one time he had some of his substrate in his eye and we gently pulled it out and that is when he started never opening his eyes. He is still active and running around his tank. We don't know if there needs to be vet care so if you could please help us that would be great. Thank you.

Answer
I would definitely take it to a qualified reptile veterinarian.  Any eye injury with a reptile if there is something lodged in the eye or around the eye I would take the reptile to a vet rather than pulling the object myself as it may incur more damage.  I am sure you had the best intentions and I am in no way faulting that.  I have made the same mistake personally and most times it will work out.  The thing is that it usually it leads to some type of infection due to the fact that the environment itself is not sterile.  I wish you the best of luck with your dragon and please let us know how this plays out as we care about all our scaly friends!