Blocked Tear Duct - Toms River,NJ

you want to just lightly press/massage it when you wipe the gunk away. if you are breast feeding, you can also squirt a little breast milk into it. Both of my kids had them. My sons was worse though. it took a few months for his to break open too.

My DD had this too (in both eyes). It usually resolves on its own by 12 mos. One of her eyes did get better on it's own by 5 mos, I think. We saw a pedi opthamologist about it and she said we could massage the duct, "but they don't really know if that does anything." She did show me how to do it, it's not massaging the corner of the eye, it needs to be done going down the nose and with significant pressure. Since the doc had pretty much said it did nothing, I stopped doing it until I saw my opthamologist and he told me it absolutely does work. So I started doing it and within a week it unblocked and that was the end of it! I don't know if it was coincidence, but I was so happy. DD was almost 15 mos and I was getting a bit antsy about it since 12 mos had come and gone. If they do need to fix it, it is really quick, they literally poke through it, takes a minute, but general anesthesia is necessary.

I know it looks kinda icky, but as long as you keep it clean so it won't get infected, it isn't harmful.

They didn't run the course for my child. He had severe blocked ducts in both eyes and it was miserable. Right before he turned a year old, I had the procedure done to get them unblocked. They drop numbing liquid in the eyes, then stick a curved needle through the tear duct. They have to strap the baby down and hold it's head tight.

If the child is over a year, they will have to anesthetize him, so that is why I chose to do it before it got to that point. The Dr. told me if I had waited, the ducts would not have cleared because it was very bad.

I did the prescribed ointment, the warm compresses, the massage, the breastmilk... nothing worked and my baby was so uncomfortable and stressed and it was so awful for him having his glued shut eyes degunked every day.

The procedure lasted but minutes, (though he screamed the whole time)... and his tears were a little bloody for a day or two, but it was so wonderful, he was so happy afterwards and we never had to hold him down to clean his eyes again.

I would highly recommend it, but since your baby is only 4 months old, I would continue the massage and compresses for several more months before you do the procedure.

These moms are correct about the massage.. use a warm baby wash cloth, it will help..

Massage the corner of his nose, right by his eye. My sister-in-law told me this trick, and it cleared up all the goop from my little guy's eye. Do it a few times a day for a couple of days.

My daughter had a clogged duct until she was 9 months old- usually it really does go away on its own, even though at the time, it was really annoying! What we were told is, massaging right under the duct might get the clog dislodged, also, breast milk squeezed right on the duct can loosen it too- but I found that it really just cleaned it up but didn't stop it from returning. Other than that, one day, we just woke up and it was gone!

My son had this and we ended up taking him to a pediatric opthalmologist who did surgery to unblock it. We had the surgery done when he was over a year old and she said it would never have cleared on its own. I know it is annoying because lots of people would comment on it. Get a referral to an ophthamologist. In my experience, nothing my ped said would "run its course" ever did.

My daughter had the exact same thing! My doctor told me to gently rub the inside corner of her eye and that did NOT work. It wasn't until I took my baby to the emergency room because I thought I got water in her lungs while bathing (a rookie move, I know) that the doctor told me to rub the inside of her nose bridge. That worked almost instantly! By the second day (after rubbing the inside corner of her nose bridge, next to the corner of her eye) did it stop tearing up. The doctor told me its because water flows from the outside into the nose and down.

My one month old son had a clogged tear duct two weeks ago.

We actually ended up taking him to the ER because I was on anti-biotics at the time and my doctor told me that if I noticed any gunk in his eyes and he was more fussy and/or tired to bring him in. Well he was, so we called the nurse hot line since it was after clinic hours and asked if we needed to take our son to the ER or if it could wait until the next day. We were told we needed to bring him in immediately. The ER doctor took one look at him and told us that he just had a clogged tear duct. He gave us a small tube of that stuff they put in baby's eyes right after they are born, and told us to put it in his eyes 4 times a day for 4 days. It cleared up right away. That man truly was a miracle worker because not only did he fix the problem, he also got our billing changed from an ER billing to urgent care billing since the ER trip was completely unnecessary.

Anyways, I would ask your doctor about that treatment.

Did he show you how to gently massage it? That worked with my daugther.

Otherwise the only remedy I know of is an OP, something you would not want to do yet.

Our daughter had this. We massaged and used warm wash clothes several times per day. At a year old it had not resolved, so she had to have a minor procedure done to clear the duct. Hopefully your son's will resolve on it's own. They say most of the time that is the case!

My youngest had an immature tear duct which required surgery. I'd take the baby to an eye doctor for a second opinion.

If you are breastfeeding, put breastmilk on it. It has amazing healing properties.