uro with injured (healing) sticky eye

Question
QUESTION: Hi:
I have a juvenile male egypticus whose eye was injured when my ferret got into his tank. I think he was bitten, and a little burned as well when the light fell. This was about a year ago, and he is doing fine otherwise. Good appetite (though I have to help him because his periferal vision is off and he misses the food a lot). I have been assisting the heal as much as possible by very carefully helping the injured areas shed properly, even the edges of his eyelid. The outer structures are in pretty good form now, but the overall shape is still compressed on top, and I think there was damage to the protective membrane inside. He can open it part way, (some of the eyelid is droopy), and there is an eyeball in there. I haven't worked for two years, so I feel safe letting him live outside during the day, in a large birdcage with varying degrees of full sun, and plenty of ventillation so he doesn't overheat (I live in central Florida), and a large tunnel-shaped piece of driftwood to crawl on, and under. My California Vet once told me that my saliva was a better lubricant than water because of the PH, but I just realized that it is also full of bacteria!!.
What is your reccommendation? I have an old tube of retin-A Micro tretinoin gel microsphere .01% that I think was given to me to treat a large iguana I had years ago, but I'm not sure. The expiration date on it is Jan 2006.

Thanks very much!!!

ANSWER: Hello Kathe,

Do you have any pictures of him?  
Well, the tube of the retin-A tretinoin treatment it may be too old to use.  I am not sure what the time frame is on the effectiveness of it is.  
You could get some sterile saline solution to help wash it out with, or some Terramycin eye ointment if you feel it may be getting infected.

Is he eating pretty good right now?  

Tracie  

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Sorry, I was trying to get my camera working. No dice.

Yes, he eats fine, except for my needing to help his mouth and the food find eachother, as I said.

I don't think the eye is infected (it isn't red and doesn't ooze), just dry because of the injured membrane. I'm thinking some kind of ointment would provide the most cushion against rubbing and sticking, but maybe some kind of artificial tears would be good. For the human products, do they have to be diluted?

Thanks again

Answer
Hello Kathe,

How is he doing today?  
You can get some sterile saline solution, that may help the eye out.  That is good to hear there is no drainage coming out of the eye thus far.
No, you wont need to dilute the eye drops any, so just use 1 drop per eye.
I hope he is getting some food into him!

Let me know how he is doing.
Tracie