The tear duct in an infant. Doctor Komarovsky about massage of the lacrimal canal in newborns

It happens that immediately after birth, the child begins to discharge pus from the eyes. This phenomenon does not occur very often, and it occurs in 1-5% of newborns. The main cause of this trouble is dacryocystitis of the newborn. In simple terms, it is an inflammation of the tear duct connecting the child’s eye and nose.

Signs of dacryocystitis are mucous, mucopurulent discharge from the eye with the formation of a small swelling in the inner corner of the eye. In children born by cesarean section, obstruction of the lacrimal duct occurs slightly more often than in children born naturally.

Causes of obstruction of the lacrimal canal: incorrect position of the eye membrane; incomplete dissolution of embryonic tissue. This may also happen due to the fact that the gelatinous film, which during the child’s intrauterine development blocked the ingress of amniotic fluid, did not burst during his first breath. Then the baby's tears begin to accumulate in the lacrimal sac, and therefore the child may develop an infection.

Signs that indicate that a child has blockage of the tear duct, - when crying, the child does not produce tears. Very often, pediatricians regard this as conjunctivitis. They prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs to the child, but in this case they will not help.

Also, mother's breast milk is not suitable for treating this disease. And although it is believed that it is sterile and cannot introduce infections into the eye, due to its high fat content, mother’s milk is an excellent environment for the development of pathogenic microorganisms. Such treatment may lead to an even worse outcome.

Distinctive symptoms of tear duct blockage:

When you press on the area of the lacrimal openings, a mucopurulent discharge appears in the child.
An abundant discharge of purulent fluid is observed from the lacrimal sac, filling the palpebral fissure.

Treatment of dacryocystitis at home:

All discharge from the child's eyes should be wiped with a cotton swab dipped in warm water. This should be done from the inner corner of the eye to the outer. A new cotton ball should be used for each eye and each movement.
To wash eyelashes if they stick together, use cotton balls soaked in water. Rinse off from top to bottom. To soften the crust formed as a result of gluing the eyelids together, apply moistened cotton balls to them for several minutes.

If you are doing treatment at home, you should definitely do this strictly under the supervision of a doctor. Also, as a treatment, the baby can be prescribed therapeutic massage.

If after a course of such a massage, the child’s tear duct remains unchanged, it may be prescribed lavage of the lacrimal canal. This procedure is absolutely safe and does not require hospital treatment. The entire operation is performed in the ophthalmologist's office within 10 minutes.

Another way to treat this disease is probing of the lacrimal canal in children. The essence of the operation is to pierce the film of the tear ducts using a Sichel probe and clear the tear duct with a Bowman probe. After probing, the child is prescribed a massage to prevent relapse. The child will not have complications after such a surgical intervention if you seek help from an experienced specialist and strictly follow all his instructions after the operation.

While still in the maternity hospital, and then at home during the first visit, the pediatrician will tell and show the young mother how to care for her newborn baby. These are simple and even pleasant manipulations that need to be repeated every day. And it all starts with washing your face in the morning...

One day, a mother may notice that her child’s eyes are sour. Some will not attach due importance to this, while others, on the contrary, are very worried. Of course, such a phenomenon should not remain without your attention, but there is no need to be afraid: dacryocystitis is not so rare in newborns.

What is dacryocystitis?

Human tears perform a number of important physiological functions that many of us are unaware of. In particular, tears, wetting the eyeball, moisturize it, nourish it with necessary substances and even disinfect it, protecting it from pathological microorganisms. After the tear has served its purpose, it must somehow exit the eye. For this purpose, there are lacrimal ducts: lacrimal openings, lacrimal canaliculi, lacrimal sac and nasolacrimal canal.

While the baby is in the womb, the lacrimal ducts remain closed by a gelatin-like film specially formed for this purpose. It protects the fetal respiratory tract from the possible entry of liquid into it. With the first breath and cry of a newborn baby, this film breaks, opening the tear duct. But for some reason this does not happen in all cases, and then doctors talk about congenital dacryocystitis or, in other words, obstruction of the lacrimal canal.

Dacryocystitis can be acquired or secondary, that is, it can develop in older children and even adults. However, the reason for such a disorder always lies in other reasons: conjunctivitis or prolonged rhinitis preceding dacryocystitis, in the formation of tumors, injuries, age-related changes, etc., that is, dacryocystitis develops as a complication of other diseases.

Obstruction of the lacrimal duct: symptoms

So, if the septum remains intact and the lacrimal canal continues to be closed to the secreted fluid, then the baby’s tears accumulate in the lacrimal sac - and stagnation forms. This can cause a newborn's eyes (or one) to water all the time. But since a humid environment is very favorable for the development of microbes, and there are a lot of them in the inhaled air, soon an infection begins to develop in this tear “lake” - an inflammatory process occurs. At this stage, dacryocystitis is accompanied by the release of pus from the eyes (the eyes turn sour and fester). You can often make sure that there is an obstruction of the lacrimal canal in a newborn by pressing on the area where the lacrimal sac is located (in the upper part of the nose, on the side) or lacrimal openings (the outer corner of the eye): with dacryocystitis, the tear will be released from the eye due to pressure. purulent fluid.

If this situation is left without proper attention and the necessary treatment is not carried out, the process may worsen.

It happens that parents turn to a specialist with dacryocystitis when their child is 2-3 years old. Even if the defect is eliminated and treatment is carried out, it will not be possible to completely restore the functions of the lacrimal sac, because over such a long time it has lost its innate elasticity and has become flabby (the walls of the sac normally constantly contract, pushing out tears, that is, it works like a “micro pump” "). To prevent unfavorable outcomes and complications, obstruction of the lacrimal duct must be treated.

Obstruction of the lacrimal duct: treatment

Some doctors are confident that treatment for dacryocystitis should begin as early as possible. Others believe that there is no need to rush and that the most favorable period for this is 2-3 months of childhood.

We are talking about different methods of treatment at different stages of dacryocystitis. And we should stop here and tell you in more detail. There is a fairly high probability that the septum that did not burst at birth will resolve on its own during the first days of the child’s life, and therefore no action is taken during this period. But if symptoms of tear duct obstruction appear later, then the baby should definitely be shown to a specialist and treated for dacryocystitis.

How to massage with obstruction of the lacrimal canal

So, if discharge is detected from the baby’s eyes, parents should show the baby to a pediatric ophthalmologist. He will probably conduct a West test (for an accurate diagnosis), select suitable eye drops for the little patient and show mom and dad how to massage the eye to avoid piercing the very film that prevents the normal outflow of tear fluid.

It's very simple and not scary at all. Pre-wash and cut the nails on the finger with which you will massage, right down to the very pad of the finger, that is, “at the root.” Place your baby on the changing table or whatever is most convenient for you. Place one drop of the prescribed medication into the inner corner of the eye, wait about a minute and begin massaging. Hold the baby's head with one hand, and with the little finger of the other, massage the corner of the eye with light, gentle pressure.

Under no circumstances should you put pressure on the eyeball! Massage only the corner - the lacrimal opening, making jerky movements in a downward direction. At the end of the procedure, the eye should be washed with a cotton pad soaked in saline solution, chamomile, calendula infusion or freshly brewed tea. Movements must always be made in the direction from the outer corner of the eye to the inner.

Don't worry about your baby squirming and crying. He doesn’t understand what’s happening to him, he may not like something, but there’s no danger in it for him. Try to do everything calmly, affectionately, talk to the baby, stroke her head.

The duration and number of procedures, as well as the use of medications before, during and after the procedure will be determined by the ophthalmologist. Typically, massage of the nasolacrimal duct is performed several times a day for several weeks.

Probing for obstruction of the lacrimal canal

If correct and regular massage of the lacrimal canal does not lead to the desired result (that is, the patency of the lacrimal canals is not restored) or if the condition of dacryocystitis is already advanced, then around two months or until the child is three months old, probing of the lacrimal canal should be performed. It is during this period that the newborn begins to actively produce tears (if you have noticed, then until 2-3 months babies cry dry), and therefore ophthalmologists consider it the most favorable for carrying out this procedure.

Probing the nasolacrimal duct is an unpleasant and painful procedure for the child, but it is quite effective and is performed under local anesthesia.

The doctor inserts a straight probe into the baby's tear duct, widens it, and then uses a special probe to pierce the films in the nasolacrimal duct. To avoid the formation of adhesions after the probing procedure, it is also necessary to massage the nasolacrimal canal and instill drops into the eyes.

If the cause of dacryocystitis in a child is a congenital physiological pathology of the lacrimal ducts, then only surgical treatment is required, but surgery in such cases is carried out no earlier than 5-6 years of age.

Especially for - Margarita SOLOVIOVA

Almost immediately after birth, a child quite often experiences purulent discharge from the eyes. One of the reasons for such discharge may be dacryocystitis in newborns, in other words, the inflammatory process of the lacrimal sac. The main signs of this disease are mucopurulent or mucous discharge from the eye, and a slight swelling in the inner corner of the eye.

Tears play an important role for the proper functioning of the human visual organs - this is for the eyes. Tears help maintain the necessary moisture in the eyeballs; they protect their surface from small particles of dirt and dust. After the tears are distributed on the surface of the eyeballs, they are diverted from the eyes through the nasal cavity along the lacrimal ducts. In an infant, it may have obstruction in both one or two eyes.

But what then is the reason that it becomes impassable, if Mother Nature intended otherwise?.. During the intrauterine development of the baby, a special gelatinous film blocks the ingress of amniotic fluid. At the moment when the child makes his first cry at birth, with his first breath, this film bursts. If this does not happen, the baby’s tears begin to gradually accumulate in a special bag, and an infection may form there. Also, the reason for this may be the incorrect position of the membrane or the embryonic tissue not completely resolving.

The main signs of obstruction are the presence of discharge, tears flowing out of the eye cavity when the baby does not cry, and lacrimation. Quite often, pediatric specialists regard this as conjunctivitis and prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs, but such treatment will not help.

Therefore, it would be more correct to contact a pediatric ophthalmologist.

The distinctive symptoms of dacryocystitis are a mucopurulent type of discharge when pressing on the area of the points.

The main clinical sign of the chronic course of the process is an abundant purulent discharge of fluid from the lacrimal sac, which completely fills the palpebral fissure, usually after crying or sleep.

Once you have been accurately diagnosed, you need to immediately begin treatment. Most likely, you will be prescribed a special massage as a treatment. But first, familiarize yourself with the anatomy of the lacrimal canals, the projection of the “bag”. Before starting the massage, wash your hands well, keep your nails as short as possible, and you can use sterile gloves.

Massage scheme for obstruction:

1. Gently squeeze out the liquid.

2. Drop a warm furatsilin solution 1 to 5000 into the sore eye and remove the purulent discharge using a sterile cotton swab.

3. Do a massage in the area of special “bags”. The purpose of this massage is to break through the gelatinous film. Massage of the lacrimal canal is carried out with several vibrating or jerking movements of the finger with slight pressure, the direction of which is from top to bottom, from the inner corner of the upper part of the eye to the bottom. Due to the pressure created, the embryonic film breaks through.

4. Apply disinfectant drops to the eye: chloramphenicol 0.25% or Vitabact.

5. Carry out these procedures up to 5 times a day.

Massage of the tubule should be done for at least two weeks. It is necessary to take into account that by 3-4 months the gelatinous film breaks through or dissolves on its own, provided that the parents carefully and correctly follow the above instructions.

Remember that only a doctor can show the massage of the lacrimal canal as correctly as possible.

Additional Information:

1. Massage should be done at the moment when your child begins to cry angrily. Since the whole mechanism is that while the baby is crying, everything is in tension, and breaking through the gelatin plug with a massage will not be difficult.

2. When doing a massage of the lacrimal canal, you need to be extremely careful (the younger the child, the more careful you massage), because infants do not have a formed bone in the “sinuses” of the nose, there is just delicate cartilage there.

3. Dacryocystitis in an infant is a very dangerous disease in children under one year of age. Since the pus is located in the brain area

4. Watch the pus flowing from the eye so that it does not get into the ear or another eye.

5. The older the child is, the more painful this procedure is, as the gelatinous plug becomes denser.

There is an opinion that massage of the lacrimal sac, when the baby's canal is in a state of obstruction, is quite effective. But experience shows the opposite. The “effect” of massage is possible in case of erroneous obstruction of the tract, which sometimes accompanies conjunctivitis.

If the baby's tear duct remains unchanged after a special massage, then you will need to do probing. Having identified any diseases, it is wiser to carry out treatment immediately. Since prolonged massage and moving away probing often leads to complications. The older the child gets, the more difficult it is to completely cure the obstruction. The best age for a child to perform probing of the lacrimal canal is three to four months.

If these manipulations do not lead to the desired result, then it is necessary to carry out probing in an eye office setting. Probing is a relatively simple operation that involves piercing the film. After you have undergone probing, you must definitely do a massage for the first week in order to prevent relapse, which is associated with the formation of an adhesive process.

You will not observe the effectiveness of probing only in those situations where the occurrence of dacryocystitis is determined by other reasons, such as a deviated nasal septum, pathology of the development of the nasal and lacrimal canal, etc. These children require complex surgical intervention, which is carried out no earlier than six years.

And our article once again proved that a disease is easier to predict than to treat. Well, if you treat, then with full responsibility, patience and hope for a complete and quick recovery. Good health to you!!!

In the first few days after the baby is born, his crying is not accompanied by the release of tears. And this is the norm. But their absence after 2 - 3 weeks should force parents to contact a specialist who will find out the reason. Indeed, in most cases, this is how obstruction of the lacrimal canal in newborns manifests itself.

From this article you will learn

What is tear duct obstruction and what are its causes?

Obstruction of the lacrimal duct (dacryocystitis) is an inflammatory process that affects the lacrimal sac, the area of the eyeball and around it. The main cause of dacryocystitis lies in the film that protects the nasolacrimal duct of the fetus in the womb.

During the baby's first cry after birth, it does not burst, but remains in place. This leads to the fact that tears cannot come out and accumulate in the lacrimal sac, along with bacteria that contribute to the appearance of the inflammatory process. Hence the redness and swelling of the eyes, which appears when the tear duct is obstructed.

Knowing the structure of the nasolacrimal duct, you can eliminate the cause by seeking help from a doctor who will prescribe effective treatment. And before we begin to eliminate them, we should understand why this happens. The causes of dacryocystitis may be the following:

Congenital obstruction. It is characterized by a high density of mucous film. In the case when, after 2 - 3 months after the birth of the baby, his condition does not normalize, the film does not dissolve on its own, it is necessary to resort to the bougienage procedure.
The blockage can be caused by an infection in the lacrimal sac.
Pathology associated with the fact that the nasal bone continues to grow and form. Due to this, it puts pressure on the tear duct, blocking it.
Formation of a tumor of the face or nose, cysts in the duct.

How it manifests itself

It is quite difficult to determine the presence of obstruction of the lacrimal canal in a baby in the first weeks of his life, because it does not manifest itself in any way. But a little later, with the appearance of tears, the first symptoms appear.

Most parents do not pay enough attention to them, assuming that the whole problem is conjunctivitis. After all, the symptoms of these two diseases are very similar. But in the case of dacryocystitis, the use of antibiotic drops helps eliminate the symptoms only for the duration of their use.

An impassable lacrimal duct appears, as a rule, only in one eye, less often in both at the same time. Symptoms may be as follows:

Excessive production of tears, due to which the child’s eyes regularly remain moist.
Gray or yellowish discharge collects in the corner of the eye. When they dry out, they turn into a crust, causing discomfort to the baby and sticking the eyelashes together after sleep.
The eyelids become swollen and red.
In advanced cases, pus may be discharged from the eyes, and the baby may feel pain when light pressure is applied to the nose.

If you notice that your baby has become capricious, refuses to sleep or eat, or has the symptoms listed above, you should show him to the doctor as soon as possible.

Having diagnosed dacryocystitis, as well as finding out the cause of its occurrence, he will prescribe treatment. There is no point in making a diagnosis or selecting medications on your own.

Treatment

In order for the baby to recover as quickly as possible and for the symptoms that accompany this state of the body to no longer cause him discomfort, treatment must be effective and timely. It can boil down to:

Massage.
I put some drops in my eye.
Probing.

The optimal method by which the tear ducts can be brought into proper condition is massage. It, like other treatment methods, must be prescribed by a doctor who will clearly demonstrate to parents the technique of implementation. Once you have mastered it, you can perform the treatment procedure at home.

For newborns, massage is the most harmless and painless procedure. It must be carried out when the baby is in a good mood. Don't forget about hygiene. Therefore, you can start the massage only with clean hands and short nails. The following photo will help to clearly explain how it should be carried out.

The sequence of massage is as follows:

The child's eyes are washed with chamomile decoction or furatsilin solution. This must be done from the outer corner of the eye to the inner.
Having cleared the eyes of pus, the index fingers are placed in the area of the corners of the eyes, while their pads should be directed towards the bridge of the nose.
Using sharp, but not very rough movements, pressure is applied with the pads of the fingers from the starting point to the tip of the nose. During one procedure, there should be an average of about 10 pressures performed. If during the massage, tears or pus are released from the eyes, this indicates that a positive result will soon follow.
After the massage, eye drops are applied. When choosing drops, preference should be given to those that do not crystallize. These drops provide an additional barrier to the release of tear fluid.

The massage is aimed at breaking through the film and facilitating its rapid disappearance. As a rule, proper implementation leads to the elimination of the problem within 2 weeks. If there is no improvement, then it must be solved surgically.

Probing is a surgical procedure that lasts no more than 10 minutes. It is performed under local anesthesia and does not cause any pain to the little patient.

The procedure begins with the specialist putting drops in the baby’s eyes, which are local anesthesia, widening the canals and using a probe to break through the film, then clearing the canal.

For this, saline solution and disinfectant are used. In order to preserve the results of the procedure and prevent re-narrowing of the canal, the doctor prescribes a massage lasting a week.

You should not refuse the probing procedure prescribed by the doctor, nor should you delay it. The fact is that the film will become rougher over time, and its removal will require more effort. Therefore, the optimal age for probing is the period from 3 to 6 months.

Preventive measures

No matter how hard parents try, unfortunately, they are not able to completely protect their child from all kinds of diseases, including obstruction of the lacrimal canal.

And there is no special prevention against dacryocystitis, because it is a pathology with which the baby is born. But it is possible to prevent its complicated course. To do this you need:

Pay due attention to the baby's hygiene.
Engage in timely and correct treatment of diseases affecting the eyes (conjunctivitis, sinusitis).
Avoid exposing the child to strong winds, frost, and the scorching sun.

The most important advice for parents who are faced with this problem is not to delay in identifying the causes and eliminating them. Indeed, in addition to the fact that it causes discomfort to the baby, there is a high probability of complications. There is no point in bringing it to this point, because the health of the child is the most important thing.

Many babies in the first days of life are faced with the problem of constant purulent discharge from the eyes, which is called dacryocystitis or obstruction of the lacrimal canal. At least, this is one of the most common reasons that stimulates inflammation of the lacrimal sacs of the eyes in infants.

Causes of obstruction of the tear ducts

There is a standard pattern for the movement of tear fluid in the human body. Tears form in the eye and are then directed into the lacrimal ducts, which lead them to the nasal cavity. What components do the lacrimal ducts include:

Superior lacrimal opening;
Inferior lacrimal punctum;
Superior lacrimal duct;
Inferior lacrimal duct;
Lacrimal sac;
The nasolacrimal passage is located at the bottom of the inferior nasal concha. Since the air moves in the nose of a person during his breathing, when it gets here, the tear fluid gradually evaporates. This passage is located approximately one and a half or two centimeters from the external opening of the nose.

The back wall of the nasal cavity is connected to the upper part of the human pharynx, which is called the nasopharynx. While the baby is in the mother's womb, his nasolacrimal passage is protected from the influence of amniotic fluid using a special plug or film that is formed from gelatinosis. When the baby leaves the mother's womb and takes its first breath, as well as screams for the first time, this protection breaks and stops, leaving the passage for fluid free.

If, at the birth of a baby, the canal protection is not broken, then tear fluid begins to accumulate in the lacrimal sac, which stimulates the development of infection. It is this infection that forms dacryocystitis in newborns, which can take a chronic or acute form.

Signs of the onset of dacryocystitis

Typically, the disease makes itself felt in the first weeks of a baby’s life, manifesting itself with initial symptoms. Externally, the symptoms are slightly similar to conjunctivitis: Mucous discharge of a purulent nature begins to emerge from the corners of the eyes. They can appear either in one eye or in both eyes of the baby at once. Also, the child’s eyes constantly have tears, and in some cases there is a constant flow of tears, which is accompanied by slightly reddish conjunctivae. Sometimes doctors themselves may mistakenly take obstruction of the lacrimal duct for conjunctivitis.

Symptoms of dacryocystitis

In order to check the baby for the presence of lacrimal obstruction, you need to lightly press on the location of the lacrimal sac. If the baby is sick, then mucous masses of a purulent nature will begin to be released through the lower or upper lacrimal opening. If before carrying out such manipulations, the baby has already been subjected to drug treatment, then there may be no discharge. To make a guaranteed diagnosis, pediatricians analyze a special collarhead test. Collargol- This is a special solution that has a coloring effect. This is exactly the solution, with a consistency of three percent You should drop it into your baby's eyes, one drop in each. Before instillation begins, cotton swabs should be placed in the baby's nostrils. If, after the solution was dripped into the eyes, a shade of this solution appears on the cotton swab within five minutes, then the test result is positive. If the coloring matter appears on the fleece during the interval from six to twenty minutes, then this is perceived as a slow test, but when the result appears after twenty minutes, we can confidently talk about a negative indicator.

Also, such an analysis is perceived as positive when the baby’s eyeball is cleared three minutes after the solution was dripped into the eyes. If during the analysis a negative value of the indicators was obtained, therefore, the patency of the lacrimal canals is impaired, however, on the basis of tests alone, it is impossible to say what the nature of these disorders are and how affected the lacrimal canal is. To obtain complete information you need contact an otolaryngologist. Considering that the canal is not only lacrimal, but also nasal, a common runny nose can affect the overall picture. During even the mildest manifestation of a runny nose, the mucous membrane of the lacrimal passage swells, the passage itself narrows and it is more difficult for tears to find a way out.

is a serious disease that must be identified at a very early stage, otherwise complications may arise. Let’s say there is a disease such as phlegmon, which leads to a significant increase in the baby’s body temperature, causing a constant state of restlessness and nervousness in the child. If you again do not pay attention to this process, or do not recognize the disease in time, a fistula of the lacrimal sac may appear.

Chronic obstruction of the lacrimal duct in newborns

The chronic form of dacryocystitis involves regular and profuse discharge of a purulent nature or from the infant's lacrimal sac. Moreover, the number of masses is so large that it can completely fill the entire slit of a child’s eye. Most often this happens after the baby wakes up, or after he cries. If a child is diagnosed with chronic dacryocystitis, this means that it is necessary to urgently begin treatment, since the disease cannot be neglected. In order to understand the very essence of the disease, it is better to familiarize yourself in detail with the anatomical data regarding the placement and functioning of the lacrimal passages.

The most recommended method of combating chronic obstruction is considered to be massage of the lacrimal canal. Before you begin, you need to cut your nails as much as possible so as not to injure the baby, wash your hands with disinfectants, and also wear special gloves that are sold as sterile.

On the first step you should press on the lacrimal sac, not too hard, but so that all purulent accumulations and other liquid collected in it gradually come out. This should be done until the bag is completely cleansed.

Second step- This is the instillation of a special medication in order to remove all the secretions that have been squeezed out from the baby’s eye. For this, cotton wool and furatsilin are usually used, which is sold in a solution with a consistency of one to five thousand.

Next comes directly tear duct massage . It consists of successive pressures of the index finger, which should imitate light pushes in the direction from the bottom to the top. The purpose of such movements is to break the gelatinosis plug, which did not break through completely at the birth of the baby.

The next step is disinfect baby's eyes using special drops. For example, you can purchase a solution of chloramphenicol with a consistency of 0.25 percent, or drops called Vitabact.

Such procedures should be performed at least four times a day, every day, for two weeks in a standard situation. If the disease is advanced, the treatment period may be longer. If we study the results of expert research, we can say that the gelatinosis plug can either dissolve on its own or rupture. This occurs around the age of three or four months, according to statistics, but this is the case when all the doctor’s instructions are followed, regular massage and eye drops are performed.

There are cases when massage and instillation alone are not enough, and you have to turn to other, more serious methods. One of them is probing the lacrimal canal for obstruction, which is performed in a specialized eye office. This process is not safe, it is very painful, and is considered a rather difficult procedure for a small child.

First of all, local anesthesia is necessary so that the baby does not experience too much pain. After this, the lacrimal openings and canals are expanded using a Sichel probe, into which another probe of greater length is then inserted up to the lacrimal canal. It is this probe that breaks the film, which causes obstruction. After the procedure, it is necessary to rinse with a special solution to disinfect the canals.

After probing the lacrimal canal has been performed, there is still a need to regularly massage the passage for seven days. This will protect the baby from the return of the disease and the beginning of the process of adhesion in the canals.

The cause of dacryocystitis is not always an insufficient rupture of the plug; sometimes it can be other reasons: any anomalies in the development of the lacrimal nasal passages, damage to the nasal septum, and others. In this case, neither massage nor probing will have any effect. You will need to wait until the baby is at least five years old to undergo canal correction surgery, which is called dacryocystyrhinostomy.

Basic information about the disease.

The incidence of dacryocystitis in babies is not that high - no more than five percent of babies are affected. The basis of the disease itself is the inflammatory process that takes place in the infant’s lacrimal sac. The disease can be determined immediately after the birth of the child, so the child receives his diagnosis without leaving the maternity hospital. What causes the development of obstruction in most cases:

Pathological changes in the nasal cavity or tissues that occur due to injury or inflammation;
A film consisting of gelatinous material that did not dissolve before the baby was born, or did not break through with the baby’s first breath and cry.

With the normal development of a child, the patency of the canals that connect the tear streams and the nasal cavity are formed in the baby when he is still in the womb, at about the eighth month. All previous months of development, the opening of the lacrimal duct is blocked with a thin film, a membrane.

In most babies, this septum ruptures during the baby's first cry and breath, and in some it gradually disappears even before birth. But if neither one nor the other happens, then the film remains and interferes with the process of tear drainage, forming obstruction of the canals. How the experience of dacryocystitis will affect the baby’s health in the future is determined by the timeliness of diagnosing the disease and the correctness of the treatment methods that were used to rid the baby of the disease.

Symptoms of canal obstruction begin with mucous discharge from the baby’s eyes, which is sometimes purulent in nature. Also, the baby's eye swells slightly in the inner corners. Even doctors themselves have more than once mistaken dacryocystitis for conjunctivitis, prescribing treatment with anti-inflammatory drops, which does not bring visible results.

In order to distinguish conjunctivitis from dacryocystitis , you should lightly press on the baby's lacrimal openings. If you see the appearance of mucopurulent masses, this is a manifestation of obstruction of the lacrimal canals.

It is recommended to begin treatment of this disease with regular massage exercises, which must be repeated up to five times a day. These exercises are aimed at breaking the film that prevents the passage of tears. When massaging, you should use your index finger, making pushing movements with a slight vibration, and at the same time applying light pressure. The direction is from the upper area of the corner, which is located inside the eye, to the lower. Thus, the pressure in the nasal passages increases, which may well stimulate the rupture of the plug.

The number of massage repetitions in one day can reach ten times, in order to increase efficiency. Even if at first you do not see any results, and signs of the disease remain, you should not stop massage exercises for another month. After the massage, purulent accumulations will be released from the lacrimal sac, which must be wiped off with a special cotton swab. It is better to pre-moisten the cotton wool with a chamomile solution; you can use calendula or tea leaves.

In some cases, massage does not have the desired effect, and the disease does not go away. In this case, you should contact a specialist and carry out a complex procedure in his office, which is called canal probing. In order to carry out probing, it is better to wait until the baby is at least two or three months old, since the procedure is very painful and dangerous.

Before proceeding directly to the procedure, preparatory tests will be required. It is necessary to check the baby's blood for the level of coagulation, and in order for the cause of dacryocystitis to be clearly established, he must be examined by an otolaryngologist.

After the specialist carries out probing, it is necessary to regularly instill drops into the child’s eyes throughout the week, which exactly the doctor will indicate. Also, in order to prevent dacryocystitis or obstruction of the lacrimal duct in newborns from recurring, it is recommended to perform massage exercises for another month, stimulating the lacrimal ducts.