Is my gecko dying?

Question
Larry my leopard gecko is about 19 years old. For the last month he has quit eating. I started hand feeding him which seemed to help, even though he doesn't seem that interested in his food. Now he seems very dehydrated so I started to drip feed him water from my finger. I think he is dying. He just shead a layer of skin but this time he didn't get it off his face. So I picked him up to help peel it off and it seems like his eyes have dried up...I am so worried for him. He is normaly very fat and healthy, what could have brought this on so suddenly? And can it be fixed?
Thank you,
Angela Jacobi

Answer
Hello Angela,

Wow first off, 19 years old??  That is amazing.  
Do you have an undertank heater?  Do you have a basking light on the side of the heater to create a hot spot of or around 88-90?  
You also need a moist hide on the side of the undertank heater to help him with shedding.
What you need to do now is to soak him in water to help get that shed off.
It could be that he is coming to the end of his life, yes.  Let's go over everything though to make sure his setup is good.  If you have had him this long though I doubt it is anything that you are doing that has caused any harm to him.  
He still could live longer though, so let's try to see what we can do for him.  
Keep trying to get food into him.  You can get a small syringe & get some chicken babyfood into him that way for nourishment.


Tracie