Does tear duct flushing hurt?

Normal people produce tears in their eyes, and the tear duct is the most important part of the eye that produces tears. Most people may not have experienced the symptom of blocked tear ducts. In fact, blocked tear ducts have a great impact on the patient's body because it will cause tear duct cysts and cause discomfort in the eyes. One of the main ways to detect whether the tear duct is blocked is tear duct flushing. But will it be painful during tear duct irrigation?

Tear duct irrigation is only slightly uncomfortable, but it can only be used as a check method

Many patients may have such questions: Does tear duct flushing hurt? Will it affect the internal diseased area? Tear duct flushing is a basic examination method for tear duct diseases. It is slightly painful, and multiple flushings will affect the internal diseased area. The specific treatment method can be understood through:

1. The subject should sit or lie on his back, and use a cotton swab to squeeze the tear tract to drain the fluid and pus in the tear tract.

2. Drop topical anesthetic on the tear cap twice, soak a cotton swab in the topical anesthetic solution and place it between the upper and lower tear caps for a few minutes.

3. Take a 2-5ml syringe filled with saline antibiotic solution and use a right-angled needle.

4. Under good lighting, the patient's head is tilted back slightly and kept still. The patient looks upward and pulls the lower eyelid downward to expose the lower lacrimal point. The flushing needle is inserted vertically into the lacrimal point about 1-2 cm. The overflow of the lacrimal point is observed and the patient is asked whether there is water in the throat.

Tear duct irrigation is a method of examination and can also be used as a simple treatment. If there is a serious blockage, flushing with force will definitely cause pain. The purpose of tear duct flushing is to check whether the tear duct is blocked. When the tear duct is unobstructed, the liquid medicine flows out from the anterior nasal aperture and into the pharynx through the posterior nostril. If the lacrimal puncta are narrow, only a small amount of solution will flow into the pharynx, and most of it will flow back out from the lower lacrimal puncta. If the nasolacrimal duct is blocked and the tear duct is completely closed, then it indicates that the nasolacrimal duct is blocked and the tear duct is completely closed. If the solution overflows from the original lacrimal punctum, it indicates that the lacrimal duct is blocked and the upper lacrimal punctum needs to be flushed. However, although tear duct irrigation is painless, repeated irrigation may cause certain damage to the tear duct.

Doctors remind: Tear duct flushing has no actual therapeutic effect. It can relieve symptoms in a short period of time (one month), but it cannot fundamentally relieve the pain of patients with tear duct diseases. If the tear duct is compared to a sewer, then tear duct flushing is a way to clear the sewage in the sewer. However, long-term sewer blockage will still cause the clean water to become polluted, which is only a temporary solution and not a fundamental solution. Therefore, surgery is still needed to completely solve the tear duct problem. Moreover, frequent tear duct flushing may cause damage to the mucous membrane inside the tear duct, resulting in scarring and scab formation, which may narrow the tear duct or even block it. If the flushing method is not correct, it can also cause tearing of the tear puncta. Currently, surgical treatment is still the main treatment in ophthalmology.