Infected Tear Duct

schwabmomma

My LO has had an infected tear duct in his right eye for 2 months now. At my last Dr appointment, they told me it was normal and prescribed an ointment to put on it 3 times a day. Also showed me a massage that might help. Well, it's not getting any better. My MIL watched him last night and freaked out about it and made me really paranoid. She said it looks like he's having trouble using the right eye as much as the left one and it could "permanently affect his sight". His Dr seemed to not be worried about it and said it would likely clear up on it's own. I just don't know if it warrants another trip to the Dr since I feel like they will tell me the same thing. Does anyone else's LO have this? Or any STMs have experience with this?

wifeofadam

Eek.  I'd be hesitant to put ointment on it every day with a baby this young.  My #2 and #3 both had clogged tear ducts for a long time.  With #2 it didn't unclog until he was 11 months old - poor thing's eye always looked goopy and gross   #3 unclogged when she was 3-4 months. 

From my understanding, it isn't infected, but clogged.  The tear ducts haven't matured or something like that.  If you're breastfeeding, I've read that squirting breastmilk helps.  But honestly, my kids always did best when I just left it alone.  The more I messed with it, the more annoyed they got and the redder their eye got.

My BFF's 9 month old still has a clogged duct too.  Both her doc and mine said it wasn't a big deal unless they reach a year and it is still clogged.  Then they might recommend surgically dealing with it.  Most issues resolve themselves before that point though.

wifeofadam

Also, tell your MIL she doesn't know what she's talking about.  Both of my kids that dealt with this have perfect vision as far as we know.

k8elee03

I think a clogged tear duct can lead to an infected tear duct when it gets too goopy, and that's why the doc prescribed the ointment.

Both my babies had clogged tear ducts, and I've never heard anything from any doctor about being concerned about their vision. It's quite normal. My daughter's got infected frequently and didn't seem to get any better, and we went ahead and did the unblocking procedure at the opthamologist and it was fine after that. My son's has already gone away.

Whenever the eye got too goopy, we cleaned it with a warm, wet cotton ball. I've also heard that a squirt of breastmilk will help, but never tried it myself.

LJM0521

All three of mine have had clogged tear ducts.  DS1 and DD's cleared up before a year.  DS2 had an awful time with his (both eyes).  He constantly had pink eye from about 2 months until he had surgery.  Even with constant "pink eye" (it wasn't the contagious type of pink eye, it was just from his eyes getting gross), antibiotics in his eyes, and the surgery, his eye sight is fine.  I spoke to my eye doctor about it just this last weekend, and he said it's actually more common than people realize and it has absolutely no long term affect.

MoreThanABride

Our doctor gave us drops for dd's eye and it cleared up the infection really fast.