Hi I am a 50 year old female with severe dry eye problem. My eyes are always red and often ache. I use lubricant eye drops (Day and night versions) and manuka honey drops too. The drops have really helped. I also had plugs inserted into the tear ducts which also helps.
Now my eye doctor has suggested a more permanent solution – tear duct fusion. This will replace the need for plugs (they can fall out, get stuck etc.). However I can’t find any information about the procedure.
Can you please tell me how this works, possible side effects, recovery time?I’m due to have the procedure in a few days but I have so many questions and my doctor is in the public system so I can’t access her to ask.
hi,
its a new procedure,now accepted everywhere.
its a minor procedure,takes very less time,with minimal side effects.
usually recovery period varies between 2-3 weeks.
its a better option compared to temporary plugs.
thanks
Hi
dacryocystorhinostomy has a 90% sucess rate , in 10% only that it can cause complications which are so many actually , but i see no reason to worry if your doctor knows what he/she is doing
Good Luck
I think she means ” thermal cautery”
Its a more permenant procedure by applying heat in the duct, which creates scar tissue to block the hole…
She will use local anesthetic in the surgery, maybe after surgery u may feel foreign body sensation orvnot which will go away after a while, topical antibiotic is gonna be prescribed after syrgery to avoid any possible postoperative infection
Also recanalization can occur after a while , but its not common to happen..
The procedure involves removal of bone adjacent to the nasolacrimal sac and incorporating the lacrimal sac with the lateral nasal mucosa in order to bypass the nasolacrimal duct obstruction. This allows tears to drain directly into the nasal cavity from the canaliculi via a new low-resistance pathway.
success rates, reported to be up to 90-95%.