Clogged Tear Duct - Cape Coral,FL

My dd was born with a clogged tear duct and we would massage the eye (I was not very consistent) it eventually cleared by itself before she was 6 month. I know it looks bad but it went away, just keep massaging and be patient.

Both my kids had blocked tear ducts, my daughter's would flare up for quite a while (months). I found the best thing to do was to just take a warm, damp washcloth and gently massage it every time I changed her diaper. I do know some of them eventually need some intervention from a doctor(I remember the doctor telling me to keep trying for what seemed like a really long time).

I'm just wondering if the Johnson's Tear Free soap in the eye is making it more irritated. It is still soap, it just has a numbing agent in it so the kids don't cry when it gets in their eyes.

Good luck!

go get the procedure done! i waited and shouldn't have, it was quick and easy. yes, hard to watch them probe a metal rod into your baby's eye but my baby was fine 30 seconds after the 60 second procedure. if you don't do it before a year, she will have to go under anestesia and you don't want that. it is really nothing to worry about and you will be sooo happy not to have goop eye!

My friends (2 different ones) had to have surgery for the little ones. It really was easy(although that's hard to think of when they are that little), but it took like 5 minutes, and then it was finished, and heir tear ducts were great after that.. Good Luck

Just keep doing what you are doing... two of my three had clogged tear ducts. One cleared up around 6 months, one right before a year. We were in Texas with the first and here in Tampa for the last child and both pediatricians were going to wait until they were a year to do anything. You'll inevitably get a lot of 'ugly' pictures, but it really doesn't cause them pain.
My niece had to have her tear duct opened up... even that wasn't such a big deal in the big scheme of things (my youngest had had 5 surgeries by the age of 3... so a wire in the tear duct is no big thing around here). Much more traumatic for the parent than the child.

L.

Massaging is important. Rub the tear duct in a circular motion and then move it outward. My son had it until he was about 5 months. It was so yucky and gross, poor guy! It did clear up, though. The doctors won't do anything until the child is 1 year old. At that point, they perform a surgery that clears it up.

Hang in there...it does get better!

My son had the same problem. I felt so bad for him cause he always had gunky eyes. Both of his were clogged but one was worse then the other. You are doing the right thing by massaging it. Our doctor told us that sometimes it take a few months of massaging it before it works. Unfortunately it didn't work for my son and he had to have surgery to unclog them. It was the easiest procedure, he was away from me for literally about 7 minutes. Now we can see his big blue eyes with all that gunk clogging them up. Hope it all works out for your little one! good luck!

If you are still breastfeeding, I would suggest putting breast milk in her eye. My son had this for the first year of his life and when he got close to a year old and the doctor was going to do the surgery, I got the suggestion from someone to put breastmilk in his eye. I expressed a little milk into a medicine cup and then used an eyedropper to put it in his eye three or four times a day. After two days, it was totally clear! And this is after it looked horrible for an entire year. If you are breastfeeding, it certainly can't hurt to try it! Good luck.

My son had a clogged tear duct. The pediatrician told me that if it didn' t clear on it's own, with massage etc.., they wouldn't do anything until he was a year old. Well, at a year it was still there so we were refered to an optamologist. Now for the bad news. The optamologist said that since he was a year old they had to sedate him with general anastegia to do the procedure. If he were to have gone in when he was younger and not as mobile they could have just done it in the office. So talk to the pediatician, or check with your insurance to see if you need a referal, you may not.
It's a very simple procedure even though it sounds a little scary. They insert a very small tube into the corner of the eye where the tear duct is. If you look closely you can see it. They say they take it out after 6 monthes if it doesn't come out on it's own. My son's fell out after about a month and never had any problems after.
Sorry this ended up being so long, but I hope it helps. Good Luck!

My daughter had the same problem. Her sye looked smaller and red with gunk all the time. We did the drops and massage. Nothing worked. When she was 13 months old they put a tube in and took it out shortly after. It worked wonders. We haven't had anymore eye problems and she is now 4 years old. So worsecase senario is a tube put in which they can't do until she's 1 then it will all be over with. Good luck....M.

My oldest was born with clogged tear ducts. It is a nasty thing! It lasted for quite a while, but I used a cotton ball with very warm water and massaged the duct with it. I did this several times a day and even had daycare doing it for me during the day. It finally cleared up, but I have heard of instances where they need to be probed.

I had a friend once that was told to use shredded potatoes (raw). You are suppose to schred the potatoes and put them directly on the eye - something about the juice in them helped to open the ducts. You might do some research online to see if this is something you could try. I remember that she did it (her grandmother is the one that told her about it) and after about a week her daughter's ducts were open and fine.

Good luck - I hope that you don't have to go the surgical route!

Get a second opinion right away. It may not be a normal clogged tear duct. Allergies could be causing it or even fluid in her ears or several other things. After all this time I can see your concern. I would have had her to a specialist before now. Don't wait. Good Luck!

hi B.,

my daughter was born with the same problem, she is now almost 6. when she was first born we noticed something with one of her eyes at the hospital, they had put the normal eye cream that put right they are born but that was it. of course we had several follow up appointments with her new pediatrician, and they gave us some ointment for her eyes and said they monitor it. have about 6 months of eye boogers and crusties our pediatrician sent us to an eye doctor specializing in pediatrics. we went in and he said she had a clogged tear duct, but suggested we wait to see if she would grow out of it. there was an option to have a procedure done to scope out the tear duct, but he said that most children need to have the time to grow. we waited, and followed up after 6 months and we were lucky enough to not have to have any procedure done. i have had friends that have had the procedure done on their children and they are fine. what you are doing is exactly what we were told to do. we were also given eye drops which prevented any infection. best of luck to you!!

My daughter had this for about 10 months and it cleared up on its own. I was also told to put breastmilk in her eyes and it did seem to make it better, but I think time was the ultimate answer. Warm washcloths and massage also helped her but once I did have to get an antibiotic eye ointment. I would not rush into any procedure. My pediatrician told us the majority of cases heal without any interventions. It is very annoying to us, but it I don't think the babies care! Hang in there!

My son had the same thing. My doctor said it might clear on it's own by 1 yr old but it did not. He ended up having surgery (which took about 10 seconds). We went to a doctor in Tampa accross from USF.
His duct ended up being clogged in 2 places.

Don't give up though - she is still really little and you have a great chance that it will clear up on it's own.
You are doing everything you can.

B.,

If the tear duct has been clogged for 3 mo I would talk you your ped about flushing it. There is a conditions called tear duct atresia, where the tear duct doesn't fully form. Or there could be a plug that is in the nasal passage where you can't massage it out.

Hi B.,
I went through that with my son when he was a newborn. We lasted about 7 weeks as the situation was causing breathing difficulties as well as becoming a solid blockage in one eye. I ended up going to the ER due to him not being able to breath. We were referred to an ENT after my having to tell the doctor that something was drastically wrong. The ENT examined him and scheduled surgery within days. What they do is simply snake out the tear duct but they also had to remove several cysts in his nasal passage which were blocking his airway. He was 7 weeks old when he had surgery and when they brought him out to recovery, he looked totally different because the blockage was causing his eyes and the bridge of his nose to swell. I was very happy we went that route and it was very successful. Don't hesitate to check with an ENT as more damage may occur by trying home remedies resulting in further infection. Good luck!

My now 2 year old son was born with clogged tear ducts in both eyes. His eyes were constantly infected. I took him to a pediatric optometrist at the Childrens Hospital in St. Pete and he had surgery to open both ducts. Since the surgery he has been infection free and will soon be 3 years old. It is terrible to have your child undergo surgery, but it is a quick and simple one that will make them feel much better quickly.

My oldest son had the same thing and I felt bad about it. The pedi told me to wash my hands and massage his eye in the corner (at the duct area) with my ring finger a few times a day and sure enough by about 6 - 7 months it cleared up without any invasive eye treatment. I was glad we didn't have to do the plastic tube poked into his duct, as it made me anxious to think about it. My son never seemed bothered by it and he has great eyes too! : ) Hang in there mama. Good luck.