Kids Eye Consult
Kids Eye Consult

Watery Eye in Children (Epiphora; Tearing)


Description: If your child’s eyes (one or both) remain watery or get continuously filled with excessive tears, the condition is called Watering In Eyes or Epiphora. Such a thing is common among kids and may improve with time. However, there could be more to it, and parents need to monitor such cases for a few weeks or two.

Long term unexplained teary eye may start troubling your kids and make them uncomfortable. Tears start rolling down their cheeks and child in response rubs it over and over. In some cases, the tears that get held up in the tear sac stagnate and can cause excessive discharge of mucus from the eye. Such a situation is not normal and requires professional consultation from an experienced pediatric ophthalmologist.

We receive such children on a regular basis at kids Eye Consult. We have thus kept our experienced clinicians and surgeons in our pediatric centre to give the best possible treatment in such child patients.

Symptoms: Includes - Burning sensation in eyes, continuous eye itching, Difficulty is seeing with watery eyes, excess mucus discharge from eyes, extended eye discomfort, constant sneezing, the nagging feel of some external particle in the eye, swelling in the eyelids

Causes: Eye-watering or Tearing could be because of a simple viral infection known as viral conjunctivitis. Specific eye allergies also can cause tear overflow in the eye. Eye disorders like uncorrected refractive errors also lead to watering from eyes in children.

Among the lead causes is a possible blockage in the tear duct of a child's eye also know as nasolacrimal duct obstruction. We as humans have tear ducts connected in the corner of our eyes that allows draining excess tears. In some cases, these tear passages (tubes) may develop a block and obstruct normal tear flow among children. Some Babies are even born with narrow tear ducts, and that also tends to block normal tear drainage. Such symptoms require ophthalmic intervention from an expert eye specialist/Surgeon.
 
Another cause could be Dry eye Syndrome – such a condition causes affected eyes to produce excessive tears. Children who have the habit of blinking for long at a stretch can also lead to their watery eyes. Dust, any unwanted external particle in the eye or an injury, accidental scratch to the eye could also make kids tear excessively. Congenital glaucoma also figures among the probable causes

Diagnosis: A paediatric Ophthalmologist is competent to detect the exact cause of present symptoms. You need to visit our eye hospital after taking the appointment, and our child eye specialist will conduct a full examination of the affected eye(s). He/She will evaluate the severity of the symptom and accurately determine the causes behind.

Treatment. Right diagnosis at Kids Eye Consult leads to Correct Treatment. Our doctors strictly follow the standards diagnosis protocol including test findings and related patient history. Accordingly, they share the treatment plan of your child with you. If it is manageable with drugs, eye drops or specific physiotherapy procedures, the same is advised. If, however, your child’s eye requires advanced treatment like surgery, then we guide you accordingly.

Probing: A minor surgical procedure called ‘probing’ opens up your child’s tear duct and eases the tear drain could be advised. Your child will require general anaesthesia to undergo such a procedure that takes a few minutes at the most. Since it concerns the vision and potentially whole future of your child, extreme care, best ophthalmic practices and precautionary measures are adopted.

At no stage, do we let our patients or their parents panic or worry! We keep all things well in our control and your child ’s treatment and follow up is done with professional integrity and medical ethics.