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Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffBlocked tear ducts are caused by a partial or complete obstruction in the tear drainage system. The drainage system, which begins at the inside corner of your eye, normally carries tears away from the surface of your eye into your nose where they are reabsorbed or evaporate. When you have a blocked tear duct, your tears can't drain normally, leaving you with a watery, irritated eye.
As many as 20 percent of newborn babies have a blocked tear duct at birth, but it usually clears up on its own in the first year of life. Adults can get a blocked tear duct as a result of an infection, inflammation, an injury or a tumor. A blocked tear duct almost always is correctable, but the treatment depends on the cause and your age.
- DelGaudio JM, et al. Nasolacrimal duct orifice cysts in adults: A previously unrecognized, easily treatable cause of epiphora. The Laryngoscope. 2007;117(10):1830-1833.
- Casady DR, et al. Stepwise treatment paradigm for congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction. Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. 2006;22(4):243-247.
- Goldstein SM, et al. Comparison of monocanalicular stenting and balloon dacryoplasty in secondary treatment of congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction after failed primary probing. Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. 2004;20(5):352-357.
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- Tan AD, et al. Congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction. International Ophthalmology Clinics. 2001;41(4):57-69.
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- Kapadia MK, et al. Evaluation and management of congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction. Otolaryngology Clinics of North America. 2006;39(5):959-977.
- Woog JJ, et al. Endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy and conjuctivodacryocystorhinostomy. Otolaryngology Clinics of North America. 2006;39(5):1001-1017.
- Hurwitz JJ. The Lacrimal drainage system. In: Yanoff. Ophthalmology. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.:Mosby Inc.; 2006. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/104049824-3/744373637/1197/56.html#4-u1.0-B0-323-01634-0..50102-4_2729. Accessed July 29, 2008.
