Certain eye conditions connected with the eye-lid, eye-brow and tears need treatment and at times surgery for improvement of function and form. This category of surgery is called oculoplasty.

Drooping eyelids

Ageing can often lead to ptosis. In this condition, the eyelids droop and then impair the vision. In addition, patient may develop excess skin and fat in the upper eyelids. This requires surgery to regain normal functioning and form.

Eyelid malposition

With age the eyelids may start curving inside (entropion) or curving outside (ectropion). This causes irritation to the eye surface and also excess watering from the eye. Surgery can often restore the normal position of the eyelid.

Tumours on eyelid

Eyelids and face are prominent locations for skin cancer. Any growth on the eye lids is a matter of concern and should be reported immediately. Cancer tumours can be resected with oculoplastic surgery.

Eye socket disorder

The eye socket muscles move the eye and its bones and fat protect it. Occasionally, the socket may be affected by injury, inflammation, tumors, or by certain medical disorders. This condition needs corrective surgery.

Glass eye

Surgery is used to replace the non-functional eye with a glass eye for cosmetic reasons. After the original eye is removed, an implant is placed in the eye socket and the muscles that move the eye are attached to the implant.

Tear duct blockage

This is a condition which may require oculoplasty, though that is the last option for this problem.

This condition arises when the eye’s drainage system for tears is either partially or completely obstructed. Normally, tears flow across the surface of your eyes to clean and moisten them, and they leave your eyes through a system of tiny drainage tubes (ducts) that run along your nose. However, sometimes these tubes can get narrowed or blocked, which prevents the tears from draining out of your eyes. When tears do not drain normally, they cause a watery, irritated or chronically infected eye.

• Excessive tears
• Redness in the white part of the eye
• Recurrent eye infection or inflammation (pink eye)
• Painful swelling near the inside corner of the eye
• Crusting of the eyelids.
• Mucus or pus discharge from the lids and surface of the eye.
• Blurred vision

In children:

Sometimes babies are born with blocked tear ducts. This happens because a piece of tissue that covers the duct doesn’t open up at birth like it should. It will usually open on its own within a few months. In some cases,tear ducts get blocked because the tear drainage system does not form correctly while in the womb.

In adults:

• The holes in the corners of the eyes, the puncta, narrow due to age.
• Trauma cuts the drainage duct.
• A broken nose or other injury damages the tear duct.
• Small, rounded growths called polyps form in the nose and block the duct.
• An infection in the eye or nose causes swelling around the tear duct.
• Presence of tumors affect the drainage system.
• Sinus surgery damages the tear ducts or the holes that drain to them.
• Radioactive iodine and chemotherapy  treatment for cancer cause swelling in the tear ducts.

Treatment varies as per the degree of blockage and age of the patient.

Non-surgical procedures

Non-surgical methods are always explored preferentially. Massage done by professionals to release the fluid and open up the tissue that covers the tear ducts is often an effective procedure if the blockage is small.

Surgical procedures

Tear duct probing

This procedure involves the insertion of a thin probe into the puncta to remove the tissue covering the duct, thus clearing the blockage. This procedure is carried out with the latest technology available, under the surveillance of a team of experienced doctors.

Balloon catheter dilation

A thin tube called a catheter is threaded into the tear duct. A pump inflates a balloon at the end of the tube to widen the duct. This procedure involves a lot of precision and expertise; which is enabled with the help of advanced instruments and our qualified surgeons.

Intubation

Intubation involves advanced technology and high level of skill. A tiny tube is threaded through the tear ducts to the inside of the nose. The tubes stay in place for 3 to 6 months to open up the ducts and let tears drain. Follow up is scheduled after regular intervals to monitor the recovery.

Surgery

At Poona Eye Care, we have facilities to perform surgeries like Dacryocystorhinostomy. This surgery is performed to bypass the blocked tear duct in adults for whom other treatments have not worked out well. In this surgery we can create a new route for tears to drain from the eye.

Laser DCR( Laser Dacryocystorhynostomy)

DCR or creating a new tear drain is a laser surgery performed to create a new tear drain between the eye and nose to resolve blockage in the current tear duct. Poona Eye Care has been a pioneer in this surgery in Maharashtra and is amongst the few hospitals here where this facility is available.

A blocked tear duct can get infected. Bacteria collect in the ducts or the lacrimal sac. Infections are dangerous and if ignored they can result in vision loss and/or eye damage.To avoid such damage, timely treatment is advised.

Though aging is one of the factors responsible for blocked tear drainage, it is not the only factor. Therefore this condition can occur at any age. It can be present a birth as well. Trauma and injury are other factors responsible for blockage of tear duct.