My daughter has never had a "Clogged tear duct", but I was diagnosed with one in my late 20s. It was driving me crazy for over a week, and even affected my vision and made it hard to focus. I finally went to an eye Dr. in Naples (Dr. Thompson) who was a beast! First, he didn't really want to listen to me, then he swiped this thing off of the counter with his bare hands and went at my eye. I flinched and asked him what it was, (it looked like one of those old fashioned punches that you use to put holes in leather), he poked at the end of his own finger and said see - it's not a needle it's a dilater (sp?) I'm going to unclog your tear duct. I told him that my tear duct didn't seem to be clogged, but producing more tears than ever. He explained that your tear ducts are connected to your sinuses, and that a certain amount of tears drain via your sinuses etc. He procceeded to try and unclog that tear duct which was not that comfortable, but was not "painful", all the while, using a syringe to try and flush it with water. I was squirming all over the place. When he had had enough, he proclaimed that he could not get it, that I needed to get some nasal spray like Afrin and use it for a week, and that if that didn't work, while he didn't look forward to doing the same procedure on me again, he would have to try again in a week. I told him that if I NEVER saw him again, it would be too soon! So, I went to the store, and I bought the Vicks version of the spray and a saline spray as I've heard all of these stories about the nasal sprays being addictive etc. and I'm a little chicken about medications. I was using this stuff for several days, and went to my company Christmas party - where another Realtor (retired eye surgeon and research scientist) took one look at me and asked what the heck was going on with my eye. I told her my horror story, and she just shook her head and said come with her to the ladies room. After scrubbing her hands like she was going to surgery, (something the beast neglected to do) she had me lean back under the lights over the counter and looked really closely at my eye. This is what she said. If I remember correctly - it's been over 10 years, but here goes, "Your eye has a gelatenous membraine covering and protecting it. This membrane is full of microscopic capillaries etc. At some time, you were exposed to something that irritated your eye - a foreign object, vapor, scratch etc. This membrane became inflamed as a result, and your eye is sensing that and trying to flush it out thinking that the inflammation is a foreign object. Go to the pharmacy and get the eye drops "OPCON A" (sp?), it used to be prescription and is now over the counter, "A" stands for antihystemine. Put three drops in your eye before you go to bed tonight, 3 in the morning when you get up, and every 4 hours the first day. The second day, put 2 drops in first thing in the morning, and every 4 hours through the day, the next day, 2 drops etc, etc, and the next/last day 1 drop in the morning and then each time during the day." I did as she said, to the letter, and do you know that the drop burned just a little for a second when I put it in my eye, but within 10 minutes, my eye was NOT tearing. I continued using the drops as she said, and my eye stayed perfect as I weaned myself off of the drops. I've had a similar thing happen a couple of times over the last ten years, and I've used the OPCON A and it took care of the problem. I don't know if I would try the drops in a child without getting a second opinion from a Dr. 1st - But mention this and see what they say - it worked for me, the "dilation treatment" did not. By the time that I saw Dr. Cindy at my company Christmas party - I had been dealing with the issue for over two weeks, her diagnosis and treatment recommendation took care of it in minutes! Good luck and let us know what happens.
