Clogged Tear Ducts - Bennington,NE

My daughter had this when she was younger. She is now 4. She has outgrown it. I don't remember how old she was, but I think it wasn't much past a year.

My boy had the same problem. I tried massaging his tear ducts, putting warm compresses on, etc. It wasn't until I expressed milk into his eyes that it cleared up (it took about a week of doing it a couple times a day). But it's gone now and people don't ask, "What's wrong with his eyes?" or "Does he have pink eye?" Hopefully it's that easy for you.

K.,
My son had that as well. It didn't open up on it's own. There wasn't anything that would have worked as his was just never developed properly. Guess its very common. When he was 1, he had to have it surgically opened at Childrens. Totally freaked me out, of course, but it was really very easy and quick. He has never had any problems with it since then. It was always an issue prior to having it opened. Try not to worry about it until after he is one. Then, know that it's a worthwhile and easy procedure. Blessings.

Hi! My daughter had a clogged tear duct too, until she was about 11 months old. We never did the surgery to open it up, it just went away on its own. It was really annoying, though, and harder to deal with as she got older because she didn't want us touching it, or washing it out (like you said your son feels too!). It seems like right before it got better, it got worse, to the point where it would get swollen shut during nap and night time. It was hard to explain to other people too and everyone always thought she was crying or had a cold. Anyway, I don't have much advice, but just encouragement! Stick in there and hopefully it will go away! And if it doesn't, I had a friend have the surgery on her son and it all went okay. Good luck to you!

YEs! My first daughter had blocked tear ducts. By 7 months it was NOT going away and in fact seemed to be getting worse, and her poor little face was getting chapped from all the wiping. We finally got the surgery. One eye was worse than the other, but the doctor did both. He said that one of them was actually double blocked and never would have cleared up on its own. It was a simple outpatient procedure. We both took off of work "just in case" there was a problem, and by about noon that day you never would have known the kid had even been under anesthesia. It was scary to send her down to the surgery, but it always is! She did great and it was an instant improvement and no recurrence. Our baby, who is now 8 weeks old seemed to have the same thing, but it cleared up by about 4 weeks on its own. My impression is that now it's time to schedule a consult. Once it's done and over with, you'll be glad you did! Good Luck!

Our son had this as well - tears rolling down his cheeks as they could not drain and mattery eyes. He was also extremely sensitive to the sun. Doctor advised that it usually clears up by 1 year. We waited 17 months and then opted for surgery. They inserted thin tubes in both ducts - one was completely blocked, the other partially blocked. It was a little nerve wracking, but really not a big deal - similar to kids that have tubes put in their ears. Try to schedule as early as possible in the morning. After 6 months, the tubes were removed (1 minute thing - not surgically) and we have not had a problem since. In the meantime, try the massaging (doctor can provide pictures of the correct technique) and use vaseline to help protect the area from irritation due to the moisture.

My now 3 year old was born with blocked tear ducts. We were also told that he would outgrow it by a year old. He didn't. He had them probed when he was a few days shy of 15 months. It only took about 5 mintues and he was fine afterwards. My 4 week old son also has blocked tear ducts and his doctor said he will outgrow it so we'll see.

My daughter had clogged tearducts also. We had a surgery scheduled when she was about 13months. One week before the appt, they cleared up! We abruptly cancelled the surgery and have had no problems since.
I would give it more time. When he is sleepy, rub the bridge of his nose near the duct, and just continue with the damp cloth to wipe away any drainage.
We have MANY pictures with my daughter with teary looking eyes, but it just reminds us of that time.

I have been in your exact sitution.
My son had a clogged tear duct and we tried everything including breast milk, warm compresses, massaging and we went to an eye specialist who watched it for a few months. At 10 months it was clear that is wasn't going to open up on its own. After a lot of thought we decided to go ahead with the surgery. The surgery was 5 minutes and the doctor did both ducts. The one was clear but the other was mostly blocked and he said no matter how much massaging we did it wasn't going to open on its own. His eye cleared up completely and he is now 3 1/2 with absolutely no problems. I know the success rate goes down after about 1 so you still have a little while before that point.
No matter what your decision is things will work out fine. Surgery is always scary but in our case we were very glad that we did it. I look at his pictures and his poor eye is more droopy and so painful looking. We have absolutely no regrets with our decision.
Good luck with your decision.

Sovereign Silver (Colloidal Silver) worked AMAZINGLY for our son.
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Just put a drop in whichever or both infected eyes whenever needed. It cleared our sons up within a day!
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Breastmilk worked for our daughter. Just not as well as the silver did for our son....
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Make sure to continue (or start) massaging next to the inside of the eye that's matted.

My son also had this problem when he was an infant; he outgrew it shortly before his first birthday. We were supposed to massage the tear ducts twice a day - make sure your fingers are clean as to not inflame it more. He didn't like it when we did it so we had to get it in whenever we could, we would just sneak a massage in here and there throughout the day that helped alot.

Good luck and hopefully your son will outgrow it too. But I hear the surgery isn’t a big deal if you do have to go that route.

Just hold on!! Our little guy had this too and we held out to avoid surgery, and it did go away. More than a warm washcloth, we did a massage around his tearduct, usually when he was nursing or taking a bottle. Hope it clears up soon! Good luck.

Our second daughter had this from birth to 9 months. Ugh! It was so frustrating for her and us. I massaged her inner eye area with the tip of a Q-tip a few times a day as instructed by the doctor, but it really never seemed to help. I was glad that it finally cleared up on its own so that she avoided surgery. However, I've know people whose kids had the surgery and it wasn't bad.

I know you have gotten several responses, but my youngest had this and we did everything that everyone has listed and it did not go away at a year, so we had the procedure done. Good thing we did, because they said after doing the procedure that it would have never gone away, because her ducts had never opened. The procedure took less than five miuntes and it really did not affect her, except for the anesthesia made her really angry when she woke up :) Good luck!

Mother of 3 girls ages 7,6, and 4 and another on the way!

I remember when my oldest had that... every time I fed him, or rocked with him, etc... I would massage the inner corner of his eye. I also needed to use a warm washcloth to wipe away the matter. Some mornings his lashes would be goopy and icky... he would have a hard time opening his eyes. He didn't care for me to wipe it away, but with the help of my husband (holding his hands or doing the wiping) we got it done. He never minded the massaging. He never did have to have surgery on it. I think we may have had some eye drops, but not sure.

Funny, I almost forgot about this. He is now 8 yrs old. I asked him (just now... after reading this) if he remembered this. He said he did (wow!). I said "really?". I asked if he didn't mind us wiping the goop away. He said he didn't mind.
I guess as we remember how he seemed to hate it, it really didn't bother him after all, so it didn't scar his memory. I guess as parents it sometimes bothers us more than it does the kids.

Good luck.
~SR

If you are breastfeeding you can put some breastmilk in the babies eyes everytime you feed it will open the ducts no surgery needed. Also works for pink eye.

Breastmilk in the eye works wonders. It has enzymes in it that make the matter soft and easy to wipe away. Breast milk also has antibiotic properties which are also a plus, especially when dealing with the eye, not to mention it is free and healthy. Keep massaging the area, your doctor should be able to show you how. Start at the inside of the eye, near thee eyebrow and gently work your way down toward the nose where tears naturally drain.
Good luck and know it will get better. We avoided surgery with both our girls who had this problem for the first year or better.
J.

My little daycare guy, Matthew, had this from the time he was born, he'll be 2 this month. i can't say for certain without digging out pictures, but I recall him having this until around his firt birthday, maybe a bit after. he just had it in one eye. We massaged it, used the warm washcloth on it almost daily or when it was at its worst. but he mostly just had a bit of a goopy eye the first year. Mom opted not to get any procedures and it did eventually clear up on its own. You would never tell now! Whatever you decide, good luck!

Our daughter had that problem too and it just went away normally. Sorry that it is such a tender area. May the Lord heal him and help his eye to be normal.

My first daughter had a clogged tear duct as well, we noticed problems at her 2 week check up, so the docotor had us watch it and do the things you describe as well. Over the next year after trying eyedropps, the goopiness was getting worse, she finally went to a eye specialist who scheduled the surgery.
After her surgery he told us that she had three big blockages in her eye and it never would have gone away on its own. The doctor said that each time he passed through the blockage a lot of puss would seep out. I know that is gross but I am so glad that her eye would finally stop oozing all the time.
After the surgery we have not seen any problems, she is now 4.
From what we experience I think most doctors want to wait that first year to make sure it could clear on its own, after that I think they are pretty certain it is blocked.
Good Luck

Hi,
I had this same problem with both my kids, one is now 37 and the other is 25. Anyway....my oldest had his tear ducts opened at 6 months of age. The Dr. strapped him to a special board to keep him from moving and then they ran a thin wire into his tear duct to open it. It worked and there were no problems. My other child had the procedure done when she was 9 months old as it didn't open on its own either also we did the special pressing on the inside of the eye and working it down. So the Dr. did the same thing with the wire and it worked perfectly for her as well.

Hope this helps and good luck. I was told if they hadn't opened by 6 months of age, they probably weren't going to open by themselves.

My, now 5 year old, had clogged tear ducts which he did not outgrow. His wasn't bad, but enough to cause problems and didn't clear on it's own.

He had surgery when he was 13 months old with Dr. P. at NW Eye in Maple Grove. 5 minute surgery went great and no problems after.

Good luck,
K.

This has happened to my second child, now 2 1/2 yrs. His tear duct was clogged the first year of his life; it is supposed to clear by age 1, but since it didn't, we decided to have the tear duct opened through a procedure which only takes a minute. We then had to continue putting ointment on the eye for a certain number of days to help keep the duct open. The procedure worked very well and my son had no problems. Before we had it done, he would scream with the warm compresses and ointments. I felt bad because he did not understand that we were helping him. It does get easier. Good luck to you and your son.

Both my girls had this. I did too as an infant! It is really really really annoying, I know. But the good news is that it will end very soon. Be sure to get drops or an oinment from your doctor. It works so much better than a wash cloth b/c the yucky stuff is infected. It will clear the situation up right away. Of course, you may need to use it again...but it won't last much longer!

But here is the silliest adice of all. If you feed him breastmilk, but a few drops into his eyes! I SWEAR IT WORKS!

My daughter who is now 2 has had the same issue. She just gets welled up tears and they roll down her face. She gets slightly crusty eyes maybe once every couple of months. But our doctor has suggested that she have the surgery to repair this. It's something they bounce back well from, as I understand it. So, she'll be scheduled for surgery after the first of the year.

I have a feeling that my son, who is now 3 months old will have the same issue. We'll see.

Good Luck to you and your little one.

Hi K.:

I am having the same issue with my 5 month old boy. He has been having the tear duct issue since he was born(tears rolling over on one of his eyes only). After trying the following recommendations from the Dr., I do see a lot of improvement and a decrease in the drainage of tears.

1. try warm compress a few times a day on his eye ( which you seem to be doing already)
2. massage the area at the corner of his eye (near the bridge of the nose). massage wih one finger so that you will hit right at the area of the tear duct . try this a few times a day.

Good luck with that and hope he does not require any procedure to open up the tear ducts.

--S.

My son had clogged tear ducts also. His eyes were always matted and watery. The doc always said if they were not gone by his 1 yr appt then he may have to go to the eye doctor to have them opened, but we never ended up having to do that. he is 15 months and did grow out of them. i think he finally grew out of it around 11 months give or take. if he does have the procedure done i guess is is very quick and painless, but he may still grow out of it. i wouldnt worry to much. just keep up with the warm wash cloths and hopefully he grows out of it soon.