Clogged Tear Duct

My daughter had the same problem when she was about 12 months old, the Dr went in once to probe it in hopes it would open up the clog. It worked for about 3 weeks and then it was back. When we went back to the Dr we learned she had a "web" of tissue in her tear duct so she had to have another surgery to put tubes in her tear duct to prevent the web of tissue from reconnecting. It was about and hr surgery and not traumatizing for her (me I was a wreak...lol) She's 4 now and after a yr of having her tubes in she has had no further problems. Good luck I hope this this helps... If your looking for a specialist I suggest Dr Erzerum at the Belmont Eye Clinic.

My neice was the same way. And before her 2nd birthday she had the minor surgery and her eyes stopped watering. She was fine. Her mother is happy she did it.

Hello,
My son had a clogged tear duct as an infant. His eye would be watery and full of gunck. The doctor gave us some drops to try. Eventually, he outgrew it on his own. He is now one year.
I hear it is pretty common for infants.
Good luck to you:)

My daughter had that when she was baby. Her pediatrician sent her to an eye doctor and they did minor surgery, just a tiny rod they ran through it to unclog it. She was 6 months when they did it, and her eye still waters more than the other one but they said it's fine now. It didn't seem to bother her when they did the surgery.

I personally just had a clogged tear duct recently & they "irrigated" it with a blunt flexible needle-like thing with salt water. They numbed it first with a drop - but, still weird & i can't imagine a baby sitting through that calmly. They couldn't clear it with the irrigation, so they put me on antibiotic eye drops and oral antibiotics. It finally cleared up after the second round of antibiotics. Really weird - i'd never even been aware of this problem until it happened to me...

C.

My daughter had blocked ducts as well. We tried the drops, the wash clothes, massaging her ducts but nothing worked. She never slept well at night and you could tell she was uncomfortable. The thought of surgery, even outpatient, scared me to death. When she was 13 months old, we did see a specialist and they did the surgery. I cried at the hospital when they took her back - I was terrified. The surgery couldn't have taken 1/2 hour - it was very quick. We got to go back into the recovery area and hold her while she came out of anesthesia. Everything went well though and she never had any other problems with her eyes AND she slept through the night every night since the surgery. These specialists do this every day and are very good at it. I can't tell you how much it helped her.

My son has also had the problem. We see a pediatric eye doctor. They perform a procedure called a lacri-cath, to clean out the tear duct. My son has had 2, he's only 22mths old now. They have absolutely no pain from this at all. They are very simple and take only a couple minutes. Here's a website on the procedure, so you can understand it better.
http://www.lacricath.com/default.asp Hope this helps. Good luck. T.

My son (now 4) had to have his tearduct surgically opened at 6 months due to constant eye infections from his blocked tear duct. I was constantly washing his eyes, massaging his tear duct (which also helps), but nothing really helped until we did the surgery. It was a little scary, they did put him under anesthesia, but he was so much better and has no further issues. If you have any further questions feel free to email me!

My 11 month old daughter currently has a clogged duct. We did see an eye specialist approx. 2 months ago. She said that there is a 10% chance it may come open on its own before 1 yr old and 0% chance after that. We are to make an appt. for the surgery after she turns one if it has not opened on its own...as of now it has not. Keep me updated as to what happens.

My son had the same problem. We did the warm wash cloth for a couple minutes at a time, the best time, is bed and bath time. But it cleared up on it's own around 15 months. Hope this helps!!

Hello....hope this finds you and your family well. My son is now 3 yrs old and he had the same, clogged tear duct. Actually my daughter had it as well, but hers finally opened up after 6 months. But my son, Bret, he ended up having to see and eye doctor and having surgery. Trust me it sounds A LOT worse than what it is. Bret was a little over one yr when they did his surgery. They explained it as threading a fine wire no thicker than a strand of hair thru the tear duct to pierce thru the skin that is not opening. The hardest part was watching them put him to sleep, that was the hardest part. By the time they did that, I walked back to the waiting room got a cup of coffee and a snack. Drank 1/2 of my coffee and ate half of my snack and they were calling me to his bed side...they were done. It took no time at all! And bret has never had a problem since! So please don't be too concerned the doctors will do what is right and if your sons needs to have the surgery as hard as it is try not to worry too much (I know easier said then done). If you have any questions please feel free to contact me ____@____.com
I hope all goes well! PS in case your dr hasn't suggested take your pinky finger and massage the corner of his eye if you can it might help.....Good luck!

My son is 2 and has a clogged tear duct--has had it since birth. We tried the wash cloth and massaging it. When he is congested or has a cold, it always gets "gunked" up and he always has a tear in his eye or running down his cheek where it won't drain. We finally took him to see a specialist (Dr. Douglas in Louisville) and they told us they could do a procedure on him to clear it where they will run a very tiny tool down through it and then place a little tube inside to hold it open while it heals. It's outpatient, so he won't stay in the hospital. We were going to have it done months ago, but I was pregnant and so we decided to wait. But now our daughter is a few months old, so we're having it done on him next month (when he turns 3). Hope this info helps.

i havent personally had this problem...(well my daughter did for a week or so) but my best friends son had it terrably and thy did surgery and cleared it. it worked great it wasnt a long surgery and he was just fine.... good luck

Our son (who is now 43) had that problem when he was very young.

Our doctor referred us to a specialist and our son was operated on using what the doctor described as a 'silver needle'. Our son was OK after the surgery and has had no problems since. This happend when we were living in San Jose Calif.