blind bearded dragon?

Question
Hi, Diane.
I have an 8 or 9 year old bearded dragon and recently he seems to be either blind or partly blind. He doesn't seem to see his food, either veggies or crickets, and I have to put the leaves of the veggies in his mouth until he starts licking and then push it in until he eats. Is it possible that due to his age he's going blind? I recently changed his lights from the zoomed 10.0 and a basking light to one of the powersun bulbs, but that burned out after a month so he's back to the old way. I change the uvb bulb every 6 months as someone had recommended so I would appreciate any help you can give me.
Thanks,
Meichell and Tiki

Answer
Hi Meichell,
Is your uvb light by any chance the compact ones?  Or Spiral?  If yes, there were some problems with reptiles getting what amounts to snow blindness from them.  I am going to include some links for you you check out on it and also a bit of info.
Generally, there is swelling in the eyes when associated with the bulbs.
If they aren't the ones you are using, I would try moving the uvb light back a bit...10-12 inches from his height.
If that doesn't help in a few days, then I would get him to a vet to have his eyes checked. You may be able to test his eyes a bit yourself with waving something in from of him and off to the side and also watching his eyes if you shine a light in them.
LIGHTING:
Supplying uvb can be done in a few ways. By special lights
that come in fluorescent tubes or special screw in bulbs
(mercury vapor)that are designed to produce uvb and heat.
The tubes do not produce heat. UVB is needed by the reptile to be able to absorb the calcium in the foods they eat.
With out the uvb, they will develop metabolic bone disease.
With the tubes, they must say that they produce BOTH uvb and
uva. The uvb needs to be 5% or higher. Repti Sun 10.0 and the Repti Glo 8.0's are a great source for uvb. The old "favorites" are the repti sun 5.0 or the Iguana light..which are the same tube, just different package.
There are tubes that say ''full spectrum'' but they do not produce any uvb.
These need to be positioned 6-8 inches over the reptile for the 5% and 8% and 8-10 inches for the 10% so
that they get the uvb that is needed. The tubes need to be replaced every 6-9 months as that they stop producing UVB long before they stop producing light.Using a fixture that holds two uvb tubes of at least 3 feet in length will provide adequate uvb for your reptile. There has been new studies that have proven that compact uvb lights, both the spiral/coil type and the ones that look like long "U's" laying on their side and a few other brands are causing what basically amounts to snow blindness in reptiles.  To read more on this, you can go to http://www.uvguide.co.uk/index.htm
On the mercury vapor , they also produce heat. They also
produce the uvb and uva. The best on the market now are the
Mega Rays.(http://www.reptileuv.com) The distance from these are greater than the uvb tubes and the directions must be followed that
are listed for the light. When using the mercury vapor
lights, you don't need to have one light for uvb and one for
heat. The Mercury vapor lights provide both.

To find a vet that can treat reptiles:
http://www.herpvetconnection.com

http://www.arav.org/ECOMARAV/timssnet/amm/tnt_mdsearch.cfm

http://www.anapsid.org/vets/