I Need Advice Before a Doc Appointment 4/1-Seeking Advice

My son (who is 4 1/2 now) had his tear ducts probed at age 22 months for the teary, goopy eyes but also for chronic nasal drainage. They put the little tubes in that were to stay in about 6 weeks. One came out after 1 week and the other we pulled out after 6 weeks as directed. Thankfully the surgery was successful and he hasn't needed further treatment; although it does seem he gets teary/goopy easily with colds. I can relate to the unsettling way that they wake up. My son was very upset after surgery and even pulled out his IV (he's normally quite calm and cooperative). It was very hard because no matter what I tried to calm him down it didn't seem to help! But, it is actually quite common for kids that have surgery/anesthesia to wake up that way after surgery. It's mostly due to the medication that they get for anesthesia. Once it wore off for my son, he turned right back to his normal self. They are also in a strange environment and around strange people. The staff at the place my son had surgery were very good and coming to get me as soon as he began to wake up. I work for an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor and he does a lot of surgery on kids (ear tubes, tonsillectomies, etc) and it is quite common to have kids wake up very upset. It's still hard when you're the mom, but hopefully it will reassure you that it's not terribly unusual. Also, I would wait to see what the doctor says about your son's eye(s) at your follow up visit. He/she may not even recommend a repeat surgery. Good luck!

I dont have personal experience with this but I have had two friends who did and both their children ended up doing fine without the surgery. It just kinda cleared it self up eventually. I am not sure that's true in all cases, but maybe it would happen for your little guy if you gave it a bit more time??? Good luck.

My son had a blocked duct and thank god it fixed itself right before the procedure. The nurse told me not to take him by myself, but to go with my husband or someone close. I'm not sure if you did or not, but I do know how hard it is to see your child like that and not be able to make it all better. So if you didn't last time, bring a person to help support you while you are supporting your little guy. I hope that it gets better and good luck!

Could he have an eye infection?? The day I had eye surgery when I was 16 years old, my brother brought home pink eye... it was lovely. But the watering and gunkiness be an infection now instead of a need for surgery again?? I guess I am trying to look on the bright side and hope your little boy won't need surgery again so soon!!

I don't know what to tell you otherwise... other than good luck!!

A.

Hello,
My son (now 3 and 1/2) had hte same problem, both eyes. He had surgery at 16 months old. Post surgery, his eyes did drain better, but not normally. We did the follow up appointments and discussed our options. The next step surgery was to put tubes in (same concept as kids with ear tubes). Because the testing showed the eye was draining - just not perfectly - the doc advised, and we agreed, waiting it out. And gradually, over the last two years, it has gotten better and better. its very true that anytime ther is a cold or congestion it will get blocked up again - doc warned us about that and it may happen for rest of his life - but the eye does indeed drain, just not great. So that was why we decided not to do more surgery. With your son's experience iwth surgery not being great, if the eye is draining at least partially, you might really consider waiting it out and seeing if it continues to improve over time.
J. (mom toa 5 year old and 3 and 1/2 year old)

Yes my son too had this problem. After having the surgery he has one eye that kept watering etc. My doctor told us to wait it out and massage the ducts (corner of eye) and after a few months it worked. I was also told that there was no need to hurry on surgery because it sometimes resolves it self :)
Hope this helps!

My heart goes out to you. That is a terrible situation. I do not have any advice and I have never heard of blocked ducts getting so bad that they need surgery. Have you tried alternative medicine?

My son had both tear ducts clogged when he was born- my doc said wait until he is a year old to do surgery. One of his eyes cleared on its own and we had to do surgery with the other one. We really had a good experience- the surgery worked and he woke up from anesthesia great. The one thing I do notice, even now(he is 3+) is that when he has any sort of cold or nasal congestion his one eye that had the surgery always is watery or gunky... Could it be that he has a cold? You could always wait it out- I know surgery is always a scarey thing!! I'm sure he'll be fine no matter what you do- don't worry! I did read on a parenting website about some parents waiting it out (sometimes until the kid was 4!) and just dealing with the gunk in the eye. That is no fun either... Good luck to you!