Treatment when babies have blocked tear ducts

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When there is partial or total obstruction of the tear drainage system, it will cause lacrimal obstruction in children. This disease is quite common in newborns and causes tears to no longer drain down the nose as usual, children will have live eye discharge and irritation leading to chronic eye infection.

1. What is lacrimal occlusion?

The lacrimal canal is a system of tubes with a very special structure, which begins with the tear point at the base of the eyelid and ends at the lower slit of the human nose. The lacrimal system includes the ritual, the lacrimal sac, the lacrimal system, and the lacrimal duct. This system helps to create a complete process, after lubricating and cleaning the surface of the eyeball, the tears will be collected at the root in the eye and led through the tear duct to the nose.
According to the normal mechanism, tears only flow out when people appear excessive emotions such as suffering, sadness, anger or something flies into the eyes... In case there is no emotion, Tears still overflow or even fall into tears, the patient is most likely to have a blocked tear duct, or a blocked tear duct.
Blocked lacrimal disease in children will cause the child to cry with a runny nose, the blockage can occur at any position from the lacrimal duct, the tear point... When the baby has a blocked tear duct, tears It will not be drained into the nose, so it will flow out, in case of prolonged blockage, it will stagnate at the location of the lacrimal sac and cause infection of the lacrimal gland, purulent tear duct obstruction, and inflammation of the lacrimal sac. , especially when pressing on the inner corner of the eye.

2. Signs and causes of tear duct obstruction in children

Thrombocytopenia can occur at any age, from infants to the elderly. However, premature infants are most susceptible to the disease (congenital tear duct obstruction), because the tear duct formation process in the fetus has not been complete, so there is a blocked membrane at the lower end of the lacrimal duct. .
Some causes of tear duct obstruction in children include:
Because the child does not have a tear point. Due to congenital tear duct leak. Congenital occlusion of the lacrimal duct (occurs in about 5% of infants between 12-20 weeks of age). In children, the following signs appear:
Children often have rust and watery eyes, this phenomenon will increase when it is cold, sunny or windy... In the morning when the child wakes up usually has eye rubbing action and has a lot of yellow rust around the eyelids. Children's eyes are always wet like crying due to the phenomenon of tears in the slits of the eyelids. Children have redness of the eyelid margins due to frequent eye rubbing and the phenomenon of pseudoconjunctivitis. In infants, the signs of lacrimal occlusion are easy to recognize or not depends on whether the child is completely or partially blocked. It is more difficult to recognize and treat lacrimal occlusion than early detection.

3. Treatment of lacrimal occlusion in children

The treatment of lacrimal occlusion depends on the cause and the age of the disease. In case the patient does not have a lacrimal point due to the diaphragm at the lacrimal point, an incision can be made as a common practice. In case the cause of the disease is a fistula, the doctor may prescribe surgical treatment to close the fistula. Treatment of congenital tear duct obstruction will depend on the age of the child and have an appropriate treatment regimen:
In the case of a child under 3 months of age with blocked tear duct, it is necessary to rub the eye area of ​​the lacrimal sac and not Because children will achieve high treatment efficiency during this time, every day can clean the eyelids with small physiological saline in place. Children from 3 to 8 months of age with blocked tear ducts can be treated by injecting routine or applying medicine, burying the tear bag depending on the patient's request. In children after 8 months of age with blocked tear ducts, treatment with a lacrimal catheter is recommended. Before inserting the lacrimal catheter, it is necessary to make sure to clean the eyes and remove all the rust for the child, then use a small flexible tube inserted into the blocked tear duct to clear the blockage. the doctor's instructions in taking care of the child so as not to recur.
In fact, there are many cases of congenital tear duct obstruction that will improve on its own within a few months as the baby's tear drainage system is more complete.
A special thing to note is that during the time of detecting the disease and waiting for the treatment of blocked tear ducts in children, parents need to clean their children's eyes carefully, if their eyes are red and swollen, they need to take them to the hospital. specialist for immediate examination.
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