Anyone's LO have surgery to unblock tear ducts?

[expat-mama]

Just came back from the doc's again. I can't even count how many eye infections DS has had in the past 4 months. And I'm so freaking tired of putting drops in his eyes five times a day and then the ointment at night. DS cringes when he sees anything come near his face that remotely resembles the drops. He hates it, I hate it- we ALL hate it. Massaging his ducts hasn't worked, nothing works.

So we have an appointment to see an opthamologist in May for surgery and until then we are putting in our last ditch efforts to unplug the ducts. I hate the idea of DS undergoing general anaesthesia and the recovery after the surgery but we can't be going to to the doctor every two weeks and going on and off the antibiotics all the time.

Anyone had their LO's ducts unplugged via surgery? What was the experience like? What was the recovery period? How did your LO do with the anaesthesia?

[SeattleRain]

I have no idea, but I just wanted to give you hugs. It's hard having to face that kind of decision with your kid, and it can't be easy having to squirt drops in his eyes. I have a friend whose baby was born with eye problems and had surgery and it was rough, but her little one is fine now.

[mamaladd]

I'm sorry you're dealing with this.  

I just wanted to say that my ds had a clogged tear duct as well.  Nothing helped.  Massage, warm compress etc.   Then, in February, while on vacation in Vail...it just went away.  He was 9+ months.  

The infections sound like such a pain to deal with (we never had those), but if you still feel up to it, waiting it out may still work out for you.  

[expat-mama]

Thanks. It is rough, especially on DS. He is noticeably grumpier whenever he gets an infection and we have to do the drops and everything.

We have been hoping to wait it out...maybe it will go away. Do you think the higher elevation in Vail had anything to do with it? (Grasping at straws...)

[Peony]

We live at a higher altitude in CO and still dealt with two blocked tear ducts in DS. I had mostly resigned myself to surgery but then one day, they were just open. He was 10m maybe, I'm forgetting the exact age, but old enough that I thought for sure they would never clear up on their own. We do have the issue though that when he gets a cold, his eyes often get gunky again. We just had to do the whole ungluing the eyes constantly and eye drop battle again last week, even less fun on a toddler then a baby.  I was hoping that wouldn't be the case, that his eyes wouldn't be more prone to getting blocked during illness, our doc had warned us that often in the kids that don't require surgery but had blocked tear ducts later then just in infancy, can have this issue. 

[dbsam]

I saw this on the main page, my son is now six but...

My son did not need all the meds for infections but he had clogged ducts and his eyes were always weepy, gooey, crusty, half-closed, etc.  We saw two eye doctors who said we should do the surgery between 9-12 months and that waiting longer could cause problems (our ped agreed).  But we were hesitant (my son spent almost two months in the NICU and had other health issues, we were afraid to put him through more.)  Then we went to another eye specialist at a children's hospital who disagreed with the first doctors saying that was an outdated way of thinking.  She said there is no magic age and although it is less likely to clear up on it's own after a year, waiting will not cause more problems.  We waited and his eyes cleared up completely around 15 months old.  We used warm compresses often but the doctors said that may or may not help.

Also, I have a friend who had the surgery done on her son around ten months.  All went well and he was fine. 

[expat-mama]

Thanks for the replies. I've been reading a bit more about it and I think we may opt to wait a few more months.

I really don't like the idea of general anaesthetic on my LO while he's so young. I read somewhere that with babies under a year, a paediatric anaesthesiologist should administer the anaesthetic and as far as I know that is not an option for us here. I have some more time to look into it and I will.  Ugh...I just hope it will go away on it's own. Surgery is gross.