How to deal with live tears due to blocked tear ducts in children

The article was consulted with Dr. Nguyen Hung Tien - Department of Pediatrics - Neonatology, Vinmec Hai Phong International General Hospital.

The phenomenon of live tears due to blocked tear ducts is a common condition in children. Understanding the causes and treatment of live tears will help you take care of your baby properly during this time to avoid dangerous complications.

Live tears in children is a condition in which the baby's eyes are always "full of tears". Because of the excessive production of tears, you can sometimes see tears rolling down your baby's face. Throat obstruction is the major cause of live tears.
Live tears due to a blocked tear duct make the baby's eyes always "wet"
The tear duct is a special structure of tear drainage tubes, which begins with the tear point at the base in the eyelid and ends at lower nasal slit. The lacrimal path includes: lacrimal hole, lacrimal duct, lacrimal sac, lacrimal duct (nasal lacrimal duct). This system helps to create a complete process, new tears are born, after lubricating and cleaning the surface of the eyeball, they will be collected at the root in the eye and led through the lacrimal canal to the nose.
When the tear duct is blocked, the tears will not be drained down the nose, so they will overflow, causing a lot of tears. An infected tear duct will lead to inflammation and pain.
In children, blocked lacrimal disease will cause a child to have a runny nose when crying, the blockage can occur at any position in the lacrimal system from the lacrimal point, the lacrimal duct,... When the baby If you have live tears due to blocked tear ducts, tears will not be drained down the nose and will be accumulated to overflow. Watery eyes that occur in one or both eyes, and may be frequent or intermittent. In the case of a prolonged blockage, the tears that accumulate in the lacrimal sac can cause an infection, causing the tear bag to become inflamed, with mucus and pus, especially when pressing on the inner corner of the eye.

There are many causes of obstruction of the lacrimal system in children, which can be congenital or due to many other causes.

Congenital occlusion is common in children immediately after birth (especially premature babies). The tear duct formation process in the fetus is not complete, so the membrane at the end of the tear duct does not open normally, causing obstruction at or near the time of birth. Usually this will go away on its own as the child gets older.

Other causes of tear duct obstruction in children include:
Acquired lacrimal occlusion due to narrowing of the lacrimal duct system, absence of tear ducts in upper or lower eyelids, infection, nasal bone obstruction Block the opening of the tear duct into the nose. Acquired tear duct obstruction due to eye trauma, sinusitis; have chronic inflammatory eye diseases such as trachoma, conjunctivitis ... Causes of trauma can be caused by children falling or getting dust, metal shards on the conjunctiva, cornea, or even caused by dog ​​and cat scratching. In practice, however, most cases of acquired lacrimation have no known cause.

When a baby has live tears due to blocked tear ducts, the following signs often appear:
Children have frequent or intermittent tears due to the phenomenon of tears in the slits of the eyelids, maybe one or both eyes. Tears can be accompanied by secretions, eye rust or mucus, this phenomenon will increase when it is cold, sunny or windy... In the morning, when children wake up, they often have an action of rubbing their eyes and have a lot of yellow rust around them. eyelid. The eyelid margin is red due to frequent rubbing of the eyes by children and the phenomenon of pseudoconjunctivitis.

Blockage of the lacrimal duct prevents tears from flowing down the nose, remaining on the eyes, causing wet eyes, wet eyelids, and possibly even running down the cheeks. These symptoms usually appear in the first days or weeks after giving birth and the severity varies according to different conditions. Symptoms are worse when the child has an upper respiratory infection (cold or stuffy nose) or is exposed to wind or cold. At that time, the child will have more tears and discharge. The eyelids can be red and swollen, sometimes stuck together with yellow-green discharge from an infection. Children who are sick may have a fever, cry, and rub their eyes often.

When detecting that the baby has live tears due to blocked tear ducts, parents need to take the baby to an ophthalmologist for proper treatment. Based on the disease lesions, people use appropriate methods of treating live tears.
For children with congenital tear duct obstruction:
The treatment method that can be used is pressing the inner corner of the eye where the tear sac is located, combined with antibiotic eye drops and oral antibiotics. When treated with this method, most cases of tear duct obstruction will recover completely. When the child is 2-3 months old, if the baby still does not stop tearing, people can pump and wash the eyes to help the tears flow down the nose. In terms of time, 4-6 months of age is the time for good religious practice. For cases of children with acquired tear duct obstruction:
Need surgery to create a new tear duct, from the eye to the nose. The method can completely treat the symptoms of tearing, from inflammation and pus in the lacrimal sac. For cases that do not allow surgery to create a tear duct, surgery must be performed to remove the lacrimal sac. This method will eliminate inflammation in the eye, avoid complications that cause lacrimal abscess, but the patient will have tears for life. The above are ways to treat live tears caused by blocked tears in children. In fact, there are many cases of lacrimal occlusion with unknown cause, so when detecting symptoms of lacrimal occlusion, parents should take their child to an ophthalmologist immediately for timely diagnosis and treatment.
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