I think my daughter has a blocked tear duct - Infant Care (up to 18 months old) Message Board

dina08 · 07-18-2008, 08:47 AM

My daughter is 6 months old and we think she has a blocked tear duct that is now infected (in both eyes). We are taking her to the doctor today; however, I was wondering what experience others have with this. This has been going on for a few weeks and in the last week, it has gotten horrible. She also woke up last night with both eyes crusted closed, was crying for 2 hours straight, and now screams if you wash her eyes with a warm washcloth (and she didn't cry before). Her eyes are puffy and red as well. There is a ton of yellow/green discharge coming from them as well. I have read that in order to fix it, surgery may be in order from an eye doctor. The baby will have to be put under for this and they stick a needle in her eye. This concerns me greatly and my daughter has a hole in her heart which makes me even more nervous about doing surgery on her.

youneeak · 07-18-2008, 09:38 AM

Hi there,

I have no personal experience with this, however, I took a class last summer and had to spend a bit of time observing the eye doctor at our local children's hospital. I spoke to him about this, and the procedure seemed pretty easy. There is a needle involved, and having to go in through the "gap" between the eye and the nose and open the tear duct. While I was observing he had 3 of these procedures (over the course of 2 weeks). Each only lasted 15-30 minutes or so, the babies were not put under anesthesia they were just put into this chair that held down their arms/legs/head so they didn't move during the procedure. It was a long needle-looking thing that they used. I am not sure if this is how everybody does it, or if the 3 I observed were not infected and therefore needed a simpler procedure than your doctor described. But I wanted to let you konw it's a fairly common practice from what the eye doctor I was with said. Best of luck!!

AnnD · 07-18-2008, 09:46 AM

My daughter had this minor surgery done when she was little..they had to thread a very tiny round thread like plastic thing through the tear duct ..she kept this in place for a few weeks(I can't remember how long to tell you the truth) open the tear duct. It worked and it wasn't all that traumatic for her it was just nice to see her eyes not all swollen and dry.

Ol'Line Rebel · 07-18-2008, 10:29 AM

Hi, how are things going?

Funny you mention this problem. My little 4-mo son just last week started getting bleary-eyed and goopy in the left eye. It would stop, but it didn't get as bad as yours and never got red, although often he'd be a little puffy on the bottom.

I went to the doctor Monday (mostly because of an awful case of thrush that has hit us all - yikes), and she said all we had to do was push/rub right there near the inside corner to clear it up. She recommends to do this periodically as maintenance, because their tiny ducts are so easy to block up.

Well, since she touched him, he's been fine! I keep doing it, just to make sure (plus, we're fighting thrush which I don't want affecting the eyes either). But he had 5 days of me feeling sorry for him as he looked like he had a bad cold/allergy, and now he's had 4 days of being normal!

Anyway, just wanted to mention that easy clear-up method. I don't know if yours has gone on so long and/or is so bad that this isn't good enough. But thought I'd toss it out there.

G8r4evr · 07-19-2008, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ol'Line Rebel

Hi, how are things going?

Funny you mention this problem. My little 4-mo son just last week started getting bleary-eyed and goopy in the left eye. It would stop, but it didn't get as bad as yours and never got red, although often he'd be a little puffy on the bottom.

I went to the doctor Monday (mostly because of an awful case of thrush that has hit us all - yikes), and she said all we had to do was push/rub right there near the inside corner to clear it up. She recommends to do this periodically as maintenance, because their tiny ducts are so easy to block up.

Well, since she touched him, he's been fine! I keep doing it, just to make sure (plus, we're fighting thrush which I don't want affecting the eyes either). But he had 5 days of me feeling sorry for him as he looked like he had a bad cold/allergy, and now he's had 4 days of being normal!

Anyway, just wanted to mention that easy clear-up method. I don't know if yours has gone on so long and/or is so bad that this isn't good enough. But thought I'd toss it out there.

Thats what we had to do for Taylor as well. Hers was blocked/draining for the first two months. I dont think hers was ever infected though...so that may be a little different. Let us know how it goes at the Dr =)