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How To Treat Obstruction Of Nasolacrimal Duct?
Hello doctor, My son has had an obstruction of his nasolacrimal duct since he was born, in January we under went the lacricath procedure and it was a success for a couple weeks, we had to restart the tobradex drops 4x a day for 10 days and then off for two weeks and so on and so forth. We had an appointment with his doctor this morning, and his duct is obstructed again and now we are considering the option of redoing the probing, using a larger balloon cath, and the possibility of a stent as well, my worries is that if just doing the lacricath again and not putting a stent in are we going to end up right back in this same situation again a couple months down the road? How affective are the sents? And are there different options out there?
posted on
Sat, 10 May 2014
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Tue, 15 Dec 2015
Answered on
Tue, 15 Dec 2015
Last reviewed on
Hello dear,
After going through your history, I believe you have some genuine concern and I will try to help you out of this situation.
Blockage of nasolacrymal duct since birth is a less common but not rare phenomenon. The treatment starts form gentle massage to probing and dilatation to surgery. I think your doctor is doing a genuine work by re-dilatation of the nasolacrymal passage. Putting a stent or not will be definitely his decision depending upon the protocol he follows. But stents are also not for ever. It has to be removed after 6 weeks. Please do not forget to use the eye drops for longer period after the procedure.
It should be in your mind that this procedure also may fail as doctors can not fight against nature. The healing process of any condition is totally dependent upon the nature and body's own healing mechanism.
The ultimate option for this condition is surgery, in which a communication is made from the nasolacrymal system to the nose.
I hope I could solve your query. Please do not hesitate to clarify more doubts for the same situation.
Thank you for the way you are in my life.
Dr Ipsit Panda
After going through your history, I believe you have some genuine concern and I will try to help you out of this situation.
Blockage of nasolacrymal duct since birth is a less common but not rare phenomenon. The treatment starts form gentle massage to probing and dilatation to surgery. I think your doctor is doing a genuine work by re-dilatation of the nasolacrymal passage. Putting a stent or not will be definitely his decision depending upon the protocol he follows. But stents are also not for ever. It has to be removed after 6 weeks. Please do not forget to use the eye drops for longer period after the procedure.
It should be in your mind that this procedure also may fail as doctors can not fight against nature. The healing process of any condition is totally dependent upon the nature and body's own healing mechanism.
The ultimate option for this condition is surgery, in which a communication is made from the nasolacrymal system to the nose.
I hope I could solve your query. Please do not hesitate to clarify more doubts for the same situation.
Thank you for the way you are in my life.
Dr Ipsit Panda
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