Why do we need to flush the tear ducts of newborns?

Many newborns need to have their tear ducts flushed after birth. This is mainly because parents worry that the baby's tear ducts may be blocked. It is also a way to prevent eye diseases in newborns. Many parents are unaware of this, resulting in various eye diseases in newborns. So why do we need to do tear duct flushing in newborns? Let’s learn more about it through the following introduction.

If your baby is found to have symptoms of tearing and excessive secretions, you should take him to the hospital for tear duct flushing as soon as possible. The best period for conservative treatment of the tear duct is from birth to 2-4 months. After an early diagnosis, regular tear duct flushing to drain pus, coupled with parents' active daily massage of the lacrimal sac area and application of medicine, can promote early patency of the tear duct.

Purpose of tear duct irrigation:

1. Used to check whether the tear duct is unobstructed. Such as complete blockage, partial blockage or stenosis.

2. Preliminarily determine the location of tear duct obstruction and whether there are other congenital abnormalities of the tear duct. For example, whether the obstruction is located in the lacrimal duct, common lacrimal duct or nasolacrimal duct, whether there is puncta agenesis or lacrimal duct atresia, etc.

3. Drain and clean the large amount of pus and mucus in the tear duct, and inject antibiotics into the tear duct to control the spread of inflammation.

4. Tear duct flushing can break the thin membrane that blocks the lower end of the nasolacrimal duct in some children, making the tear duct unobstructed.

Through the above introduction, we know why newborns need to do tear duct flushing. After the newborn is born, parents must pay attention to the condition of the newborn's eyes. If there is a lot of eye mucus, it must be paid attention to. You can go to the hospital for examination with the baby and flush the newborn's tear duct under the guidance of a doctor.