If your tear duct has been obstructed, it will cause your tears not to drain naturally, and cause your eyes to be irritated and watery. The blockage may be because of partial or complete obstruction that happened in the tear drainage system of your eyes.
Generally blocked tear ducts usually happen during new-borns. During their first year of life, the disorder will be healed by itself without being treated by any medications. However, a blocked tear duct in adults is probably because of any injuries, infection or in some cases it is caused by a tumour. Because of that, if you are having the symptoms of a blocked tear duct, you are advised to have a health screening at the hospital to discover what is the main cause for your problem. People with blocked tear ducts have a big chance to treat the problems. The treatment regime for the sufferer will be according to the main cause of the blockage and the age of the patient.
There a variety of sign and symptoms that can be experience if you are having blocked tear duct such as below:
- Undergo an excessive tear
- White part of your eyes becoming red in colour
- Having an infection or inflammation of the eye frequently
- Swelling that is painful at the inside corner of the eye
- Your eyelids become crusting
- Formation of discharge from your eyelids and surface of your eyes that are made up from mucus and pus.
- You vision become blurry
There is no exact range of ages to be diagnosed with blocked tear ducts. The disorder may happen at all ages, starting from childbirth until adulthood. The causes are varied for each people such as:
- Hereditary blockage. To date, many blocked tear ducts cases have been reported among the infants. This disorder is mainly because their tear drainage system is not developed perfectly or there has been any abnormality of the duct. In most cases, the problem happens when there is remaining thin tissue membrane over the opening which later will empty into the nose.
- Changes related to the age. When you grow up, there will be narrowing of the small openings that clear out your tears, causing it to be blocked.
- Infection or inflammation. Your tear ducts may be blocked if there is persistent inflammation or infection to your eyes, tear drainage system or nose.
- Injury or trauma. Damage of the bone or formation of scar near the drainage system due to a face trauma may also cause blocked tear ducts. It will cause a disturbance to the normal drainage of tears through the ducts.
There are many factors that may contribute to the progression of blocked tear ducts. Some of them are:
- Age. Blocked tear ducts are part of the age-related disease. Because of that, the risk of being affected with the problems will be higher in adults compared to children.
- Persistent inflammation of the eye. If there is continuous inflammation of the eyes, the possibility of getting blocked tear ducts will be increased.
- Having any previous history of surgery to the eyes. Previous eyes surgery may result in formation of scars at the duct system, causing the tear duct to be blocked.
In order to prevent the progression of blocked tear duct in the future, we must take some precautions such as:
- Always wash your hands properly using the soaps and water.
- Avoid rubbing your eyes using your finger
- Replace your eyeliner and mascara frequently. Avoid sharing cosmetics with other people.
- If you are applying contact lenses onto your eyes, make sure that the lenses are always clean according to the instructions from your doctor.
It’s advisable to take Covid 19 Vaccine.