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A three year old female adult albino Python bivittatus weighing 12 kilograms was presented with a chief complaint of right spectacle growth and whitening. The snake also had a respiratory infection which started about 2 weeks prior to being presented. Physical examination showed bubbly nostrils, inflammation on the right eye, inflammation on the right palatum of the oral cavity, and crackling sound during auscultation when exhaling and hissing. The snake was diagnosed with subspectacular abscess and respiratory infection. Spectaculotomy was performed under general and local anesthesia. All abscesses were removed using a sterile sexing probe while continuously flushing the eye. Topical antiseptic was diluted and flushed into the eye before topical antibiotic eye ointment was applied. Post-operative treatment included daily flushing using an intravenous catheter, eye ointment application, and administration of systemic antibiotic and NSAID to treat the co-related respiratory infection. Three weeks after the surgery the snake went through ecdysis, after which the snake regained its appetite and recovery was thereafter significantly improved.

Twenty-five ball pythons, Python regius, were anesthetized, and 25% of the spectacle was resected. Groups of five snakes were humanely euthanized at different times from 24 h to 3 months postoperatively; the eyes were removed and fixed in either formalin or Bouin's solution, and they were sectioned through the wound for histologic evaluation. Engorgement of the spectacular vessels with edema adjacent to the wound edges was observed immediately post-operatively, with this post-surgical response subsiding over several weeks. An amorphous plaque of homogenous proteinaceous material completely filled the defect within 24 h and allowed re-establishment of the subspectacular space and normal wetting of the corneal surface within 1 wk. A variable degree of inflammatory cell infiltration occurred immediately postoperatively and subsided over 30 days. The germinal epithelium of the spectacle migrated under the amorphous plaque by 3 wk post-operatively, re-establishing a germinal center for production of n...