Eye Surgery on 16 Month Old?

Hi J.,
Our pediatrician told my husband and that our 1-year old needed surgery to open his tear duct in one eye. I was terrified, and was looking for others who had been told this to see if I had any options. I found ut that most blocked tear ducts in young children will fix themselves, and so we decided to skip the surgery and hope that this was the case. Well, very soon, his eye duct did stop "gunking up" and we went back to the doc who said it had opened on its own. So, unless it is making your little girl very uncomfrotable, you might want to consider waiting for surgery, since going under anesthesia is not the most desirable situation. I hope this helps and gives you some encouragement. I understand how you feel, but hang in there.

my best friend in Houston is a Child Life Specialist at Texas Children's Hospital. i'll ask her or forward this to her. maybe even if she doesn't have experience with this procedure, maybe just suggestions on how to prepare for before, during & recovery...?? saying a prayer for you & your baby girl! does your hospital have child life specialists?

Hi there! I have some unconventional advice to offer you. Our son had the same problem with the tear duct and surgery was suggested. We decided to try seeing a pediatric doctor of chinese medicine first. We had tried antibiotics, massaging, warm compress etc. None worked. She recommended an old remedy that is free and easy to do. Hold the child upside down by the ankles for sixty seconds (over a bed). Do not swing or shake the child. Do this twice a day for three days. I know it sounds ridiculous, but we did it and it worked. I have told many moms about this technique and it has worked on the majority of their children.

The idea behind this is that there may be a pinch in the cervical vertebra in the child's spine which effects the nerves responsible for the tear duct opening. Using the weight of the child's head and gravity to cause a safe and effective adjustment without force (as when you go to a chiropractor for example).

At the very least, your daughter will think it is fun and you can give it a try or not. We were very happy we did and that we didn't need the surgery.

Good luck!

J.--We had this surgery on our daughter when she was 25 months old. The surgery itself is not long and I would assume relatively painless. But they do put the child under and that was an ordeal for my daughter she did not react well to the anesthesia. After the surgery for the first day or two her nose bled (as they go through the nose to probe the duct and install the stint). After that she really was fine, however a week later in bed she rubbed her eye too hard and the stint came out. And I mean, hung a inch out of her eye. Picture a heavy gauge fishing line looped through the eye and nose hanging out of the corner of the eye. The doctors advice until we could see them was to tape it to her nose, not an easy process to do with a 2-year old. They ended up "ripping" the stint out versus the normal surgical procedure of putting her back under after 3 months to remove it. Painful for EVERYONE!!! After nearly 3 months we have all survived the ordeal and her eye for the most part seems better...they said even the short week that it was in there and the probing may have been enough.

I personally would say wait. I of course don't know how bad your child's eye is or the watering, but had I had it to do again, I would wait. It was too much for her to deal with at this age. The other thing to talk to your doctor about is a "bolster" they can install with it to alleviate the chance that it could come out. Why they didn't do that in our case I'll never know. But hopefully it will help you.

I know this is an old post, but did you end up having the surgery done? If so both eyes or one? My son is about 16 months old and is scheduled for surgery and I am considering canceling it. The pediatrician recommends we go through with it, the ophthalmologist says we can wait... not sure what to do :/ He had his eyes dilated but I don't think they did the 'dye' test. His one eye is a little crusty in the morning, but not too bad, the other does tear, and has a little 'goop' on the lashes and corner of his eye throughout the day.

Hi, J.,
My daughter had tear duct surgery when she was 5 months old and she went through it well. She is now 28 years old. I had no problem what so ever.

J.,
Hi there,
I can totally relate to your apprehension. My 10 month old just had surgery on both eyes, one week apart. He had a much more serious surgery than the one you are facing. However, in the waiting room I met a family there for the tear duct. Her surgery went beautifully, as did ours.
We went to UCD Children's Hospital with Dr. Mary O'Hara. She is the best. There is also Dr. Satterfield who is good too.
Good luck. I'm sure she'll do fine. My little guy has racked up 10 surgeries in his first 10 months and he has bounced back amazingly.
Blessings,
C.

We had the procedure done for our daughter last year. She was about the same age and we were nervous as well. It worked perfectly and all the infection, goop, and eye problems in general are over. We had no complications and it was totally worth it for us.

My daughter had this done as well. Aside from it being a scary event it is supposed to be pretty safe. You will need to decide if you want to give her verset before the surgery to put her at ease (it's like a baby valium). On the one hand it does relax the child (my daughter kissed the nurses as they took her back) but on the flip it takes a while to get out of their system and she cried the whole way home and it took a few hours before she started getting back to her regular happy self. My other friend chose not to give it to her son and he bounced back right away. So, it's a choice you'll need to make on what you think will be least traumatic for your daughter. But it was such a relief not to have to deal with an infected eye anymore. It cleared up right away. Good luck.

My nephew had this procedure done as an infant because of chronic eye infections. It was great for him and he came out of it great! I understand the terror of having to entrust your baby to surgery. Try to find the strength. My thoughts are with you.

If you are in the South Bay and have Kaiser, I definitely recommend having this procedure done through the team at the Homestead campus. My daughter had a different surgery on both eyes at age 9 months. Our surgeon was Dr. Anne Ziffer, and she and her team were wonderfully thorough and thoroughly WONDERFUL. From the start, Dr. Ziffer was methodical, informative, and very clear; a *superb* doctor. I think she is not practicing anymore (now tending to family), but on the off-chance that she resumes her practice, I highly, highly recommend her.

Everyone on Dr. Ziffer's team soothed our anxieties about the procedure, held our baby with obvious care, and performed a marvelous and successful surgery.

It is super-scary to entrust our babies to these types of procedures, but have faith. Especially when the patient is so young, I think the surgical teams understand the depth of our parental fears, and they really strive to do their best by the child.

Make sure you've got a cellphone with you, and a friend along to help you through the wait time. You'll be surprised -- the actual time in surgery may be much much shorter than you expect, and in our experience, baby recovers and is raring to go by the very next day!

Good luck, mama!

HI J.,

We had to have this done with our daughter at about the same age. It's so scary isn't it??

We had no problems. They gave her a fast acting anesthesia and she did just fine. She came out of it really easily and quickly and the surgery itself was really fast. I would just make sure that your are really comfortable with your Dr. before you go into it.

Good luck!
J.

My son had this procedure around the same age. He was born with both tear ducts closed. We were able to get one to open my massaging it, but the other had to be opened surgically.
First we visited the specialist who put dye in his eye and looked at him under ultraviolet light ( this is to see the eye stucture and make sure it is really a clog and not an infection) The surgery itself is very simple and takes only a few minutes: it involves inserting a probe into the tear duct to push it open. It does require general anaesthesia however. Afterwards we had to put drops in his eyes a couple times a day and he was not allowed to play in sand for a couple weeks. Beyond the first day it did not appear to bother him. Apparently this is a very common problem.

Oh yes, we also had Dr. Anne Ziffer - she was fantastic! We are on UHC.

J., we went through the exact same thing. We did the surgery because nature was not taking it's course (we were told it would probably open up on it's own with some help). Our daughter was 18 months at the time. The surgery went fine and she was back to her normal self by that afternoon. The only trying part was when we were actually there. She freaked out when they took her blood pressure and she was hysterical when she woke up (they didn't come get us until after they woke her). For us the surgery helped, but didn't completely correct the problem. Now our daughter is 28 months and she is perfectly fine. Good luck!!

If you're nervous, get a second opinion. If the second opinion is that she should have the surgery, then have the surgery! Also, your nervousness can be "contagious"--
don't communicate it to your daughter, or she could get frightened for no reason.