Did Your Baby Have Clogged Tear Ducts?

Baby won't feel a thing. They'll use a local anesthetic drop in the eye. Get it done so it isn't an issue anymore.

♥

One of my sons had a clogged tear duct. We were told that if it didn't clear up by a year, then he would need surgery.

So as we approached 1 year, we tried to make an appointment with one highly recommended doctor and pediatric surgery center and he was scheduling months out. We were worried that we'd miss some "best" time to fix it if we waited so we went to an alternate doctor.

During surgery, the doctor will try to unclog the duct. If the duct is particularly small, the doctor may put a temporary tube in so that the duct won't clog back up again right away and require additional surgery.

When the alternate doctor did the surgery, she was unable to unclog the duct at all. She recommended another doctor who had experience with even smaller probes/tubes. So we saw him, but he showed a total lack of interest, so we bailed on him and made an appointment with the first doctor that was recommended, even though now we had to wait even longer.

The second surgery was a success. The doctor had to put a tube in because the duct was so small. You can see the tube in the eye...it looks more like part of a circle or ring. We had to be careful that he didn't rub his eyes, but for the most part, he didn't even notice it was there. The tube stayed in for about 3 months. Removal of the tube was super easy. It's been about a year and half and his ducts are still clog free. He does seem susceptible to pink eye when he gets a bad cold, but I figure that's just because his ducts are small to begin with.

So if it doesn't clear up, it's worth doing the surgery. My recommendation is to plan ahead if you want to see a doctor that has a lot of business as it may not be easy to get an appointment. You can always make the appointment and cancel it if the duct clears up on its own.

When doing surgery, do the earliest morning appointment that you can. Your kid will not be allowed to eat for 10-12 hours before surgery. Bring a lovey or comfort toy with you. They will usually give the child a calming sedative to help with taking him to surgery. Bring some water for after as he will likely be thirsty.

Aside from the anxiety of surgery, the hardest part is when the child wakes up afterwards. Our son kept crying and was unhappy and just wanted to leave.They have to wait to make sure all his stats are okay so it becomes a tough battle. On the good side, as soon as we got outside, he was instantly better. After surgery, his balance was off, so we had to watch him carefully as he would keep trying to play as normal. It might actually be easier (on you) to do the surgery before your son is walking.

Ask the doctor if he can/will put a tube in if necessary when he/she is doing the probe. Usually, the doctor will make a decision once he/she sees the condition of the duct on whether a tube is needed. But this is a good thing because it will likely save you a secondary surgery.

I'm glad we had the surgery for our son, although I wish we hadn't been worried about some imaginary deadline and waited for the first doctor initially. My son used to wake up with a lot of cruft on his eye in the morning and it really bothered him. And it was even more bothersome when we had to try to clean it out. Now he doesn't have that happen anymore.

I do agree that the eye drops can be a bit of a pain afterwards. Initially, my son didn't fight it and it was easy. But then he decided he had enough and it was a battle.

My daughter had this problem and had hers openned at just 8 weeks old. They didnt put her under just did a quick (although horrifying as a mother) procedure in the office. Basically they put my baby girl is a straight jacket, strapped her head down to the table and cleared the duct with a sort of suctioning straw type device. I was not allowed to be in the room and they actually asked that i leave the office for about 10 min (this is all it took). It is totally worth it and yes it is needed as the fluid building up can become infected if it can not escape. My daughter felt 100% better in a matter of 2 hrs and we have not had a problem since in the last 2 years.

My daughter did, she constantly got pink eye symptoms. The doc said the same thing to me about surgery as the next step. I didn't think it would clear up but all of a sudden I noticed we hadn't had any issues in a while. It was probably at around a year old. Good luck! If you do choose to do the surgery, I have heard that it is successful.

One of my grandson's (now 13) had clogged tear ducts and his parents were told it wouldn't be a problem unless it continued past one year. We used warm wet compresses on his eyes when they were at their worst, and massaged his eyes and he did outgrow the condition by a year so no surgery was every necessary. Personally, I would wait, and consider surgery only if it causes him serious problems, i.e., infections or eye irritation.

BTW, other family members on his father's side had the same condition when they were born, apparently it's hereditary. And one great-uncle was not accepted into the Army because of having had it as an infant.

My son had a clogged tear duct from birth to about 9 months. We used drops to no avail and our pediatrician said it would take some time to clear up and eventually it did. I'm not saying that surgery isn't an option for you, just that we went through a similar situation and it did take forever for the duct to clear up by itself. Eventually we stopped the drops and just used a warm wash cloth to gently wipe away the goo at every possible moment.

My son also had a clogged duct since birth. We treated it with antibiotic drops, warm compresses, and massage and at 8 months it was still there. My FIL (an ophthalmologist) referred us to a pediatric ophthalmologist, who told us to use, of all things, saline nose drops (in his nose, of course)! We did them 4 times a day, along with the antibiotic eye drops, and it cleared up within a few weeks. The doctor said he almost never performs surgery for clogged ducts anymore because of the nose drops, since all the sinuses and cavities in there are connected. I would recommend giving it a shot--what do you have to lose? Better than surgery! Best of luck!

My baby did have clogged tear ducts but with regular massaging and warm compresses, it was able to open up in a few months. My pedi told me the same thing your opthamologist is saying, that if it doesn't open up on its own by several months old, it won't without surgery. Good luck, I know the idea of putting our babies through surgery is horrifying!

My oldest had plugged tear ducts. He was scheduled to have the surgery at 10 months. A few days before surgery they suddenly opened on their own. Wow! My husband was very good about massaging the corner of his eye and said he did that a few times a day in the days before the scheduled date. Not sure if that made a difference or not, but we were able to avoid surgery for him.

Our youngest, on the other hand, did have to have surgery at 10 months. His was an entirely different reason and completely unavoidable. (He had hypospadias). He had a pediatric surgeon who told us he only works with pediatric anesthesiologists. He told us that it is safer for a child to go under general anesthesia with a pediatric anesthesiologist than it is for an adult to go under general anesthesia.

It is scary. There's no way around that. But really, the chances of anything going wrong are so slim. It will be over before you know it, and your son won't remember a thing. The hardest part for us (after handing our child over to someone else) was the first few hours after surgery when the child is coming out from under the anesthesia. They can sometimes be quite upset, but they will come out and be back to normal in no time.

Hi there,
My daughter had blocked tear ducts and I was equally torn about the surgery (as you might see from a question that I posted a couple of years ago). I put the surgery off until she was approximately 14 months old (which is right about the limit of how long the eye surgeon thought that we should wait). Thankfully everything went smoothly. They insisted that they give her a sedating medication prior to going to the OR (which wore off before the surgeon arrived), then they allowed me to carry her into the OR and lay her down on the table so that they could prepare to give her the anesthesia (the hardest part for me was walking out of the room after that), and then they came to tell me that it was done within 30 minutes. Although it took several hours for her to be herself and get the anesthesia out of her system, she was fine by the end of the day and, thankfully, has not had any complications since (she's now 4y.o). I hope that everything goes well for your little one.
p.s. the drops that you have to put in the eyes for several days afterward can be the most challenging!

I'm not sure if you're breastfeeding or not, but my son had a clogged duct and I massaged it with breastmilk and it opened after a day or two. I heard that the breastmilk had some healing properties and that you could do that, so I did and whether it truly was the breastmilk or just the massaging that did it, but it worked. Good luck!

We have had this issue with all 7 of our children. Our first we were given drops after drops to clear it up and nothing helped and she eventually grew out of it. With #2 we saw a different doctor because our regular doctor was out of town. The new doc took one look and said this is a clogged duct. Showed me how to massage the eye to open it up. He said massage it as often as you feed the baby and if it gets goopy and nasty clean it with a warm wash cloth. I told my husband and he actually spent 30 min one night massaging the eye and the next day it was perfectly fine. So then with the other children we did the same thing and they all cleared up, until our #6 child. We tried everything that we had done in the past. We even went to an eye doc instead of the ped because we knew it was a clogged duct. Nothing we did helped her at all. She was more prone to pink eye and other infections. Finally our eye doc referred us to a specialist in Casper. We met with him and he took one look and said....she needs the surgery. I too was scared, but I am so thankful that I did it. I noticed a difference right away as when we got to see her after the surgery she had been crying and usually that meant that her eye would be goopy----No goop! KB does a great job of telling you more about the procedure. Our DD had to have the stint (tube to hold the duct open) for 6 months. Then we went back and in his office he removed it and we haven't had any problems. It was such a relief to have it done and not have to worry about it/deal with it. Sometimes the duct is just so scarred that it will never open on its own. Consult with the surgeon and then make your decision. We had it done with our DD was 11 months old. Good luck.
J.--SAHM of 7

My children did not have this issue but I did as a baby. I did undergo the procedure to open it up. I can't really tell you much more though since it all happened when I was a baby.

My son also had that and I was waiting for it to open by itself, just as told by the doc, but when he was 6mos we went to Italy to visit my parents and I went to see an eye doctor there to get another opinion. He gave me a gel-like antibiotic medicine to put ih his eye and the problem completely disappeared in few days! I was speechless as two peds in the US told me it definitely was a clogged duct and it would either clear up by itself or it was surgery!
Did they rule out a stubborn infection?

My son also had this issue. He was constantly getting styes and pink eye. His did not open on their own, and he underwent the procedure. In the procedure my son had, they put a tube through his upper and lower duct and knotted it. He had to keep the tubes in for a few days. He was unaffected by the tubes, and the tear ducts cleared right up.

I will tell you I nanny for a child who has two pediatric doctors for parents. She had hers for a full 12 months before it cleared up with no surgery. They said they would have had surgery at 13 months had it not cleared up.