Punctoplasty

There are many patients who have a tearing problem.  Sometimes it is due to a blockage of the outflow system.  Other times it is due to lack of production.  When you are being evaluated for this, we will look to see whether not enough tears are being excreted leading to a secondary flooding of the tear system with extra tears from the lacrimal gland, or whether there is blockage in the outflow system.  If things get too dry in your eye, there’s a sprinkler system called the lacrimal gland which floods your eyes with tears.  It causes everything to overflow and roll down your cheeks.  The drainage system is the tear duct.  It can get plugged like a sink with a stopper.

Punctoplasty is like taking out the stopper.  We can enlarge the opening and pass probes through the tear duct.  We do this under local anesthesia, or we can do this in the operating room and give you sedatives prior to the procedure.  You will not need a patch and you will be able to go back to work after the procedure.  You would use Tobradex drops and a simple pain medicine.