Tear Duct Probing

I personaly haven't had a child go through this, but a good friend of mine has a son who did when he was a year old. His first year his eye was gookie and clogged and the docs finally cleaned out his duct. It was apparently very easy, very quick and his eye was immediately better. They've never had a problem since from what I know and they now wish they'd pushed to have it done sooner.

GOOD LUCK!

My 14 month old daughter just had it done 2 weeks ago. The pediatric eye doctor gave us the option to have it done under anesthesia or with her awake. Well I have seen this procedure done in dogs and they are always under anesthesia. I just can't imagine they probing in her eye while she is struggling to get away. So my first recomendation would be have her anesthetized if possible.
My daughter did great. The worst part was fasting her and entertaining her for an hour prior while they get ready for her.
Seriously, the time from when the anesthesiologist took her from me until the time the doctor came to talk to us to tell us everything was ok was 15 minutes!!! Then the doctor said the nurse would come get us in about 5-10 minutes as soon as she was awake. I think it was about 2-3minutes and I heard her cry and literally 30 seconds later the nurse said to come back.
The immediate recovery was difficult b/c she was disoriented and upset and probally scared at that but I just held her close and talked to her and nursed her. If you are nursing know that she might not want to nurse or take a bottle for that matter. But as soon as my daughter recovered and knew she was safe everything was fine. She came home and played then took a 3 hour nap!! Total actual time was fifty minutes the time they took her back until the time we walked out the door to go home!!
Good Luck!

My youngest had this probing done also. I was very nervous also, he had been a sickly baby RSV. I was such a wreck my husband, dad, step-mother and grandmother all went with us. It was fine, it bothered me way more that it did the baby. There was no problems at all.

Hi, I know how you feel, I was 8 months prego and had to go through this with my 1 year old and I wish I would have done it sooner, she used to scream everytime i came near her with a washcloth to open her eye since it would almost glue closed every time she would sleep, anyway the worst part was her fasting through the night because she woke up wanting her bottle, but we distracted her....I was so nervous when they put her under but the whole procedure was like 15 min and she woke up a little out of it but was happy but came home and slept most of the day, you could not even tell she had it done, no redness, or swelling or anything, we had a great doctor, highly recommended.....now my 4 month old has 2 blocked ducts and will probably have to have it done, but I am not as worried this time. Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions. J.

Hi M.,
My son who is a little over 10 months old just had the probing done to unclog his right teart duct about 2 weeks ago. I'm so glad that we didn't wait until after his first b-day, because we didn't have to anesthesize him in order to do it. I figured placing an IV and keeping him from eating all night would be worse than a minute of being swaddled for the procedure. The entire process took less than 2 minutes for us. They took him into another room, swaddled him, held his head still, and the doctor placed a very thin probe to open his duct. I heard him cry the minute they swaddled him (I think that was the worst part for him. no baby will like that), and then they put numbing drops in, and did the probing. He stopped crying the minute they picked him up, and he was okay when we got to hold him. We gave him a dose of tylenol like we were told and gave him antibiotic drops in that eye for 1.5 days, and that's pretty much it. He had some bloody tears come out of his right eye and nose for the first 2 days, but that's expected..and is a good sign that it opened up. Just to warn you, my son's eye still had mucus for 2-3 days after the procedure, and I called the opthomologist about it. I waited one more day..and it's been clear ever since. We just went for the follow-up visit and things look great. Turns out his duct was blocked in 3 different places, so that's why the 10 months of massaging and warm compresses didn't help for him. I hope you find this message encouraging. There seemed to be no discomfort or pain for him right after the procedure. He was happy, played like his normal self, and ate and slept fine. And best of all, it's so great not having to wipe his eye several times a day. We're so glad we did it..and I'm sure my son is too =). I'm sure it will go great for you, but feel free to ask me any questions if you have them.

My daughter had both of her tear ducts probed at 8 months. It was the longest 20 minutes of my life, when she was under the anesthesia. The procedure was quick, and no issues afterwards. It is so common. My son has a clogged tear duct too, but I hope he outgrows it.

My first child had problems with the tear ducts. He had a number of eye infections because his tear ducts hadn't opened up yet. Instead of using prescription eye drops each time our Dr. had us use Colloidal Silver. That worked great. I think he was just over a year before they opened. It happens. I wouldn't worry about getting them probed if you don't want to. Follow your gut. Most times the body will do it when it's ready.

Hi M.,

Holy Cow....my daughter is having the same thing done Feb 21st. I'm a nervous wreck as well. We are going to Children's Memorial. You will probably get allot of responses. I did. I posted the same question. Take a look at my responses. You'll find out this is very common.

Good luck....

I'm surprised they want to probe her tear ducts so soon? She's not even 1 year old, correct? My daughter had blocked ducts in both eyes, and eventually they opened up on their own. I would just think they would wait until she was at least a year old? That's what my doctor had said initially, but fortunately everything worked itself out!

Hi,
my daughter's eyes finally opened when shewa 11 months old. One day, I was wiping gook. Then next day, she was perfect. My friend had hers done and it was fine too. She said it was just painful to watch her baby be so anxious about it. My plan was to wait it out and I am glad I did. I figured I could always have the operation at any time.
Good Luck!

My daughter went through it. We had to wait a year before they would do it. It is very simple. I think it was harder on me than her. It is a outpatient procedure. After it is done, she will look like she got in a fight. Her eyes will be red, and they will bleed from the side. But don't worry. It is only for a couple of hours. By the next day, they might still be a little red, but it goes away. After that, they are fine. It is so nice not to have to clean her eyes everytime she would wake up.

My daughter had a blocked tear duct from birth and by 18 months old there was no improvement. The pediatrician decided it was time to take care of it. We were referred to a wonderful pediatric opthamologist who left us at ease. We had the procedure done at a local hospital but they did have a ped. anesthesiologist in OR. The hospital staff was wonderful, and the procedure took about 10 min. max. I was able to see her right away (she was sound asleep due to the anesthesia). That was the worst part-trying to wake her! And a warning...the first couple hours they are very tearful and crabby. We did have to use some eyedrops afer the procedure to prevent infection, but that was no problem. Otherwise, there were no problems and her eye is perfectly normal at the age of almost 4!

All three of my children went through this. Have they told you to massage the ducts? This remedied all problems before we went through the probe. We actually had the procedure scheduled for my youngest and it broke through 2 days before. It is always unnerving when someone wants to do something to your little one.