blocked tear duct surgery

[ian anderson]

hi anyone had a blocked tear duct and then had surgery to fix? let me know im going in for it thanks Ian

[Jack]

Had blocked tear ducts for a long time with tears running down my face, but decided not to go with the surgery. It went away of its own accord after a few years.

[Lola]

I have a history of very, very dry eyes, which present as constant tearing eyes. A helpful opthalmologist offered to put plugs in my tear ducts to prevent the tears from washing away. No, thanks!

[elephant]

About five years ago I had dry eyes and used restatsis....that worked...but I don't use it anymore and my eye's are not dry. I think once your wegeners is better controlled then it will get better. It depends how much damage has occured in the tear ducts. The eye doc wanted to put plugs in my tear ducts too..

[pberggren1]

I had it done a year ago on my left tear duct.

It didn't work at all and leaves me with some pain on the left side of my nose now and then.

I will probably never have it done again. The doc that did it said that he may have to do it 3 or more times before it takes and he said also that it may never take. So I just put up with the runny eye.

[Lola]

I've used Restasis, as well. I'm not sure if it helped or not, because my dry eyes tend to just happen now and then, but they ARE a pretty good indicator of a flare coming on. Currently, the eyes are fairly normal, I just need to blink more often.

[ian anderson]

does it leave you with bruising? and can you see the scar it left? i get a lot of puss its so annoying i really want it to go do you think its worth the risk thnx ian

[me2]

I had a DCR (dacryocystorhinostomy) done about 15 years ago because of repeated eye infections due to blocked drainage. The infections were terrible. My whole eye would swell shut and then the infection would blow out through the skin below my eye to drain.

It has worked well , even through recent years of WG flare. Unfortunately I am now having the same problem on my other eye, without the bad infections. So, I am asking questions about this same topic of myself.
I went to see an eye doc recently and was told that the surgery was still done the same way as when I last had it done. I was not thrilled to hear this because the surgery I had done (the DCR) was not minor.

After coming home and thinking about what the doc said I got online and found that there is a less invasive procedure that is endoscopic. I don't know why he didn't mention it to me and suggest it as an alternative. I am seeing my PCP next week and I am going to ask more questions about these different procedures and how I can determine what would be best for me. I will let you know what I find out.

The surgery I had done years ago, the DCR, involves a large incision next to the nose and then drilling a hole "about the size of your thumb" through the bone of the face next to the eye. (the scar on my face is truely not visible. People don't notice it unless I have them specifically look for it. The surgeon said this part of the body is very forgiving for scars. That was certainly true with me.)

The endoscopic procedure uses a laser to make a small hole and does not cut into the skin on the face. The youtube video I watched on the procedure said the success rate was something like 50 to 90 percent. Well, 50 percent doesn't sound great so this is something I would like to discuss with the right doctor also.

Best of luck,
Kirk

[ian anderson]

thanks kirk for your very informative message on your eye surgery wow that was quite a procedure you had but i do need something to be done im at the desperate stage im having to wear dark glasses because my eyes are always running with puss i"ll look into micro surgery as well thanks again
your fellow weggie ian

[elephant]

Ian, It took over a year for my left eye to stop from oozing, had tons of eye drops and I think once I was put on 60 mg of prednisone it stopped...so I think it was the wegeners flaring at that time. It is much better today.