Did anyones LO need the tear duct surgery?

sunandsand · August 2010

Our pedi said if he hadn't outgrown it by our 12 mo visit (in 2 wks) we would be discussing this.

He still has a clogged duct on one side and it happens about 3x a week. Its never matted shut anymore but his eye does get a little crusty.

It doesnt seem like a big enough deal to me to warrant surgery but I dont want him to have problems with it later in life either. Thoughts?

Squishycheeks · August 2010

Our doc said that if DD's was consistently getting better we probably wouldn't do surgery. The last time we talked about it was at 9 months.

ToBeMrsC6907 · August 2010

We had it done and it was a simple in-office procedure. No problems ever since.

wellfleet04 · August 2010

DD had it done at 14 months and it was one of the best thing we ever did! We were constantly wiping her goopy eye, and so was she. It was always getting red and infected. Post-surgery, she has not had a single problem and it is 100% perfect. It is no big deal AT ALL. They do put them under, but it takes about 5 minutes and DD woke up, smiled, and came home to eat ravioli. Easy peasy.

Mbitner · August 2010

LO's was really bad....it was yucky all day long everyday of the week. The opthamologist said his was really bad and 90% sure it wouldnt fix itself. So, we had the surgery at 6 months. It was a simple outpatient procedure at Children's hospital. Seriously the best thing we have ever done! GL in your decision!

kit443 · August 2010

Monk grew out of it practically the day he turned one. I had the surgery scheduled and everything.

BananaBaby · August 2010

Mbitner:
LO's was really bad....it was yucky all day long everyday of the week. The opthamologist said his was really bad and 90% sure it wouldnt fix itself. So, we had the surgery at 6 months. It was a simple outpatient procedure at Children's hospital. Seriously the best thing we have ever done! GL in your decision!

Exactly this with my DD. Could have written this myself. So glad we had it done when we did.

karenmarie20 · August 2010

C had it done at 13 months, the ducts in both eyes were clogged. The surgery was really quick and she was playing and happy just a few hours later. GL!

battybtags · August 2010

DD is having it done in 3wks-I'm nervous since she has to get knocked out, but will be glad to have it done so I'm not constantly wiping her eye and having people asking if she's crying!

nurseamy · August 2010

My DD just had it done in the office next weeks ago. Took less than 5 minutes, no anesthesia, they just held her down. I think it worked but she officially gets checked next week.

kpips20 · August 2010

DS just had this done last Thursday and it was fine. I was nervous too especially b/c they had to put him under for the procedure but after doing some research about possible issues that could arise later in life (chronic infections, vision issues, etc) we decided to do it now while he's young and won't remember it. Procedure lasted less than 10 minutes, he was under less than 15 minutes. He was back to his usual se by lunch!

m0132 · August 2010

DD had it SO bad in one eye and only a little bit in the other but it was constantly gooping all.day.long and I could tell it was irritating her so at 6 months we made an appointment with the pediatric eye doctor and during the exam he rubbed the bottom of the tear ducts along the bridge of her nose and told me it was very bad and I scheduled an appointment for 2 weeks later. Well, we never had to have the procedure because ever since that doctor touched her face it went away. I don't know what he did because I massaged her tear ducts everyday for almost 5 months to try and get it to unclog and nothing worked. I know the doctor told me that its preferable to do it between 9 and 12 months though, he said waiting longer can cause a bigger issue where a stint would need to be put in rather than just poking a probe though the ducts really quickly.

maple2 · August 2010

We had it done when DD was around 13 months b/c the doc said that the success rate for the surgery decreases after a year. He also said that if it hasn't been outgrown by then the likelihood of outgrowing it is slim. Unfortunately, her first surgery was unsuccessful, so we had to go back for a second surgery around 19 months. In addition to the probe and flush they put in a stent that may stay in for up to a year. So far, we haven't seen any more infection, so I'm hopeful that the second surgery was successful.

DD had goop in her eye pretty much every day, though it was rare that it matted shut. I had a similar perspective as you in that it didn't seem like a serious issue, and I am certainly not interested in putting my child in surgery needlessly. After talking with the doctors, though, I really felt like even though it is not a life threatening condition, it is certainly not something my DD would want to live with for the rest of her life. If the probe and flush surgery works (as it did for pps), then it's the simplest type of surgical fix for the problem. The catch is that it needs to be done around 1 year. We decided to go ahead with it instead of risking a more difficult and/or risky surgery at an older age. It has a fairly high success rate (depending on the surgeon). We just got unlucky in that DD was one of the 20% or so for whom the procedure does not work

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Did anyones LO need the tear duct surgery?

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