Tear duct obstruction

FelKey2012

Hello everyone,

I'm brand new to this board and my baby just turned one last week. Sorry to pop in brand new with a question.

We were told by our Doctor that our daughter's tear ducts are blocked and that she will need a procedure to have them unblocked. I was just wondering if anyone has gone through this procedure with their children and what your experience was like. From what I hear it is a pretty easy procedure. The child does need to be sedated as it is a small area they are working with so precision is key. 

We are also just wondering ballpark cost for something like this. I know with different doctors, insurance and regions costs may vary, but was just curious. We have insurance so I know some of it will be covered. 

Thank you in advance! 

LoriLee14

We were told his whole first year that we were going to have to put him through this procedure and at his 12 month well visit she said since it hasn't cleared up by now then we really needed to do it soon. Then we had some trouble with taking blood and his white count that i just put it off. well turns out it cleared up all by itself by 13 months. I know this didn't answer any of your questions but if it wasn't too bad (it had really cleared up and only at the end of the day) then i might be willing to wait. What i understood that they did put them asleep or at least to the point where they were loopy and then stick something down the tear duct to move the obstuction down.

anna&jl2011

I don't have any answers for you either but looking forward to reading the responses. We are in the same situation.  DS turned 1 on April 13th and still has in blocked tear duct.  We visited the pediatric ophthalmologist in March and we have an appt the end of this month to go back because it's still not cleared up.  I'm praying it clears up on its own because the thought of DS having to be put to sleep frightens me. 

gymkatinka

My DD had it done.We were told that it'd clear up by the time she's one...well, by 8-9 month her eye looked terrible.It had a green discharge every day.Nothing helped.I counted the days she could have it done,even though I was super nervous.

The procedure itself is super quick but the anesthesia,prep and all the paper work took hours (meanwhile DD could not eat or drink). I was allowed to go in to the OR and hold her until she was out. Then I had to leave (by then I was crying so hard).It turned out, my LO had a cyst so the tearing would never cleared up on its own.And without the procedure, we'd never have found out about the cyst. DD was suer cranky when woke up, for about 1-2 hrs then she was back to normal.

We have Blue CrossBlue Shield insurance, and the doctor's charge was about $80, the anesthesia about $ 1K, and I believe there is another hospital charge for about $3-400...yikes.I know. 

preggersin2011

At our 15 month appt we were referred to a pediatric eye doc. We had several eye infections, and the eye doctor said that LO's is blocked not clogged so she won't outgrow it. Our cost out of pocket was our 'out patient' co-pay. 

The day of surgery was fine, woke up and drove to the out patient procedure, waited around for our turn. They gave her meds to make her drunk and then took her away for the anesthesia. Recovery was quick and easy, as soon as LO had some clear liquids and returned to regular character we left.  

I would call your insurance company and go with what your trusted eye doctor says