Blocked Tear Duct - Oklahoma City, OK

Yes, when my son was born he had a blocked tear duct, I took him to his pedatrician and he said it was due to cigarette smoke. We'll my ex-husband smoked around him when he was home, when he was gone he had no trouble with it. Eventually it cleared up on it's own as he got older. He is now 11 yrs old and has never had a problem since.

I am an optometrist in Moore. I agree with the last comment regarding at least SEEING a pediatric ophthalmologist. It is fine to wait 1-2 years and keep massaging. But you should at least let a specialist examine him and give an opinion. I recommend the Childrens Eye Care (go to childrenseyecare.com).

My son was born with a blocked tear duct. We massaged and messed with it for a year and it never did work. We went to a ped opth in Amarillo (our fam doc is from TX) and they put a tube in that stayed in for about a month and a half. They put him under (which scared me to death because I have never been under myself) and I guess he had a somewhat bad reaction coming out of anesthesia. He screamed and screamed and screamed. His eye did bleed some, but I think it was because he was crying so much and so hard. I later found out (on a bill) that they had to break a small bone in his nose. I guess that was what was causing the obstruction. I wonder if it was more of a calcification instead of actual bone. Anyway, they allowed us to leave and go to our hotel room that was right across the street because I could tell that he was not about to calm down any time soon in that office. He wanted out! It took him 30 minutes to an hour to calm down and then he crashed and fell asleep for a couple of hours. When he woke again, we were on the road home and he was completely fine from then on. So weird. I have heard that anesthesia does weird things like that- like they are still in a dream trying to get out of it, even though they are really awake. I think it scared him more than it hurt. Getting the tube removed took a whole 10 seconds and they just took tweesers and pulled it right out. He was completely fine when that was over. Overall, the surgery was way more traumatic for me and my husband than it was for my son and I would dare to say that all that massaging was more traumatic for us than the surgery actually was. We have not had any problems since then. His eye never did really get infected, it was just pouring tears all the time to the point that it looked like he had a black eye sometimes. Definitely worth the surgery. Good luck.

My daughter had this surgery done...We tried to massage it, but it did not work...I can't really remember if she was 1 or not...But it really was nothing...We took her in and they took her back and did the surgery...She was the same when she came out as she was when she went in...There was really no difference...I think we had to put drops in for a few days, but that was it...Nothing to it...Good luck on it...

B.

I have 12yr old identical twin boys. One of my twins had a blocked tear duct and the doctors also told me to keep massaging it and it would eventually become unblocked. Even though we kept massaging it, it never got any better. I guess he was about 18 months and his eye was still blocked. We went ahead with surgery and only then did we discover that his tear duct did not fully grow to the inside corner of his eye. It had stopped growing halfway. surgery was the only way to correct his problem. There were never any problems that we encountered by waiting that long. He has never had any eye problems and doesnt wear glasses. Hope this helps some.

My daughter is 31 years old and has never cried a tear...she doesn't have any tears in her ducts...she buys over the counter tears and has never had a problem...her eyes get dry, but they are fine...when she was little i would just make sure if it was windy and really lots of dust blowing around, to make sure she had eye drops put in every day....she has done just fine...

We waited until our son was 14 months old before doing the surgery. He never had infections from the blocked tear duct, but his eye "ran" all the time. I had to explain to the nursery workers at church, the workers at Mom's Day Out, etc. that he didn't have pink eye or something catching. We tried the massaging, but it never got better. The surgery went just fine. He had it one morning and that afternoon he was just his old self. I think it was harder on me thinking about it than it was on him. If you wait a little longer, it may correct with the massaging and you probably won't experience side effects. If he has the surgery, I am sure it will be just fine, too.

A.,
I have a 19 month old son who had surgery in January 2008 to probe and irrigate his left tear ducts. Dr. Brown with Brandon Eye Clinic in Springdale performed the procedure. He explained that even though our son's eye had only been infected twice since birth due to the obstructed tear duct, his vision development could be affected due to the constant tearing in the eye and continued risk of infection. In addition, you risk blocking bacteria down into the nose as well and this can cause viral and bacterial infections in the eye and nose. The longer you wait to go to a pediatric opthamalogist and take course of action, the less successful any procedures will be due to scar tissue that begins to form in the tear ducts. We wish we would have taken our son much earlier to at least let him be examined by Dr. Brown. The surgery was somewhat successful but we are still having some blockage and might be going through more surgeries in the future. Just FYI.

Hello A., My sister had a blocked tear duct when she was a baby. The surgery was necessary, simple and without complications. She is now 45 years old and has had no further problems. B. S. RN. CCM

my son was born with a stopped up tear duct.He ha surgery when he was 6 weeks old.He was fine afterthat never had any problems. he is now 26 years old.

My son had very bad clogged tear ducts in both eyes. Even after 15 months which is what they recommend to wait until to fix he had this problem, but they said it still could resolve on it's on own later. So I waited and after he was about two he didn't have the problem anymore. So I guess it is just a wait and see game.

Hello, my son is now 13 months and he had a blocked tear duct from birth. When he was a week short of 9 months we had the surgery done to put a tube in his tear duct. He had the tube in for 7 weeks. It was a simple procedure. He hasn't had one eye problem since. I hope this helps. Feel free to write back with any questions.

My daughter had it when she was born and as soon as we started talking surgey, it cleared up and went away. Just keep rubbing it and give it until he about 2 and a half or maybe three.

My daughter had the same problem when she was little. We did not have the surgery. She's fine now. We just had to massage her tear duct with a warm wash cloth. It eventually cleared up.

We had them do the "surgery" on my almost (day before his birthday) one year old son. We did it the day before his birthday because after they turn one, our Dr wouldn't do it without sedating, and I didn't want him to be sedated since I'd always had problems with anesthesia. They say their more traumatized the older they get and remember more, plus the older, the longer it takes to heal, etc... The WHOLE entire thing, prep and all took 10mins. My son was wide awake, which worried me because they were working on his eye, but it wasn't a big deal at all. He screamed for just a second, then they gave him a sucker and let him suck on the sucker while doing it. Then he was just perfect. We cried more than he did. It also took US longer to recover than him. They said he might be grouchy and sore until the next day, but he was back to his happy perky rambunctious self by the time he'd even hit the car and never acted bothered by anything since.

We'd tried all of the "home remedy" things in all of the books, took all of the advice everyone gave us, but nothing worked for him. It all worked for our second son but not him. They say by the time they turn one, the chances are very low that it'll get fixed without the surgery. The surgery was pretty much just taking a wire, entering it in next to his nose and running it to the duct then pulling it back out. The procedure itself took only 1 minute, the prep and "recovery" time took up pretty much the whole time.

I was really worried about it before it was done, and I'd never known anyone to do it before. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have really worried, and I'd definitely do it again if needed.

GL!
K.

p.s. My son's blocked duct never got infected, but it did look terrible (pictures, etc), and it did seem to bother him quite a bit.