Causes and treatment of blocked tear ducts in babies

Because before the newborn is born, amniotic fluid enters the eyes and can easily cause blockage of the baby's tear duct. This phenomenon generally affects the child's tear gland development. Parents are very helpless about this problem in life. Next, we will introduce how to deal with the baby's tear duct blockage.

Why do children have symptoms of constant tears? It turns out that for some children, the lower end of the nasolacrimal duct is blocked by a congenital thin film when they are just born, or the tear duct is blocked by epithelial debris. As a result, the normally secreted tears cannot be discharged through the tear duct, and the tears have to flow down the cheeks, resulting in the phenomenon of constant tears. When most babies are born, this very thin membrane is intact. After 3 to 4 weeks, it will rupture on its own, the tear duct will be unobstructed, and the phenomenon of excessive tearing will improve. However, in a few children, the sealing membrane is thicker, or due to congenital stenosis of the nasolacrimal duct or deformity of the nasal septum, the tear duct is blocked and the tears are retained in the lacrimal sac. The humidity inside the lacrimal sac is most suitable for bacterial growth and reproduction. Once infected, tears turn into pus. This type of dacryocystitis usually affects one eye but rarely both eyes.

If a child is diagnosed with dacryocystitis, parents should not be too anxious, let alone rush to perform surgery, because the tear ducts of most babies are still in the stage of continuous development within 6 months, so conservative treatment should be adopted first, and the treatment method is local antibiotic eye drops. In addition, parents can also perform moderate massage on the tear sac area from top to bottom on the inner corner of the child's affected eye's nose bridge every day. When massaging, do not slide or rub your fingers on the skin. Instead, use your thumb close to the skin to apply force to the tear sac area under the skin, causing it to slide and massage from top to bottom. This kind of massage can be performed 2 to 4 times a day. At the same time, antibiotic eye drops (such as rifampicin, chloramphenicol eye drops, etc.) should be used 3 to 4 times a day, 1 to 2 drops each time. Use a cotton swab to wipe the cavity fluid clean before dropping the medicine.

From the above article, we learned that when a baby's tear duct is blocked, what we need to pay attention to is that the baby's body is still relatively weak. Since the child is a newborn and is unfamiliar with the surrounding environment, the child must be given timely care.