Bearded Dragon with eye infection (?)

Question
My two-year old bearded dragon has what appears to be some type of eye infection. Both eyes are reddened and water a bit. I am feeding him by hand because he won't try to catch his crickets, even though he's obviously hungry for them. I do not have money to take him to a vet, so I was wondering if there was something I could try at home. I have flushed his eyes with saline, and that seems to help temporarily (he seems like he sees better for an hour or so). But this has been going on for over a week. Might an over the counter antibiotic ointment work? I really want to save this guy--I absolutely adore him. I know I need to do something soon, though. What can I do?

Answer
Hi Denise, Firstly I wanted to draw your attention to this link:
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/phototherapyphosphor.htm

It discusses conjunctivitis caused in bearded dragons and other basking reptiles caused by some high output UV lamps. There was a recall in one brand because the phosphor mix was inappropriate and resulted in high UV output in the lower end of the UVB range.
I would suspect something environmental like this in your case because it is a little odd to have both eyes equally affected. Respiratory illness can also affect the eyes but it doesn't sound like your guy has symptoms of that especially if he is still eating well.
I would remove any loose particle substrate that you may be using just to eliminate any dust and use newspaper and keep flushing the eyes, an opthalmic antibiotic ointment certainly would not hurt.
I would also turn off any UV source that you have on him for at least a week or so to see if that improves it.
( Many people use supplements only and raise healthy dragons without artificial UV light at all so that short amount of time without the lamp will not harm him).Even if the light has not caused this, inflammed eyes tend to be very light sensitive so that will likely make him a bit more comfortable at very least, keep his heat source on however.