Eye Tear Duct Plugs

If you visit your eye doctor with complaints of dry eyes you will likely be informed about plugging your tear ducts or punctal occlusion.

Eye tear duct plugs.

A tear duct plug is a small device that is implanted by an eye doctor into your tear duct to block excess tear drainage. This increases the eye s tear film and surface moisture to help relieve certain forms of dry eye also known as punctum plugs lacrimal plugs or occluders these devices often are no larger than a grain of rice. These plugs close the tiny opening punctum that you have in the inner corner of your upper and lower eyelids. Sometimes punctal plugs can irritate the tear ducts.

A punctal plug is a small device that blocks tear duct drainage. Punctal plugs are tiny biocompatible devices that can be inserted into tear ducts to block drainage. The plugs may cause redness and swelling inflammation in the tear duct. Your doctor inserts the plug into your tear duct to block the natural drainage of tears from your eye down the duct and into your nose.

This is the area where tears usually drain through the back of your nose and throat. Punctal occlusion is a painless procedure in which the puncta small openings in the corners of the eyes through which tears drain the tear ducts are blocked. One approach to treating dry eyes is plugging the openings to the tear ducts with tiny silicone plugs punctal plugs. The plugs are inserted into the tear duct opening punctal in the corner of your eye.

If temporary plugs work well your doctor may move to longer lasting ones or may go right to a. Shore said that when a plug lodged in the midcanaliculus is surrounded by scar tissue he has had to use silicone tubes to stent open the tear duct while it heals. Nondissolving punctal plugs and punctal occlusion by cautery application of heat to tear exit duct. Ongoing inflammation can scar or damage the tear ducts.

This keeps tears eyedrops and medicine on your eyes for. Tear duct plugs are very small and are designed to be implanted into your eyelid without causing any sort of discomfort. Plugs that don t fit properly could stick out of the tear duct and rub against the surface of your eye or eyelid. Some types of eye infections can occur though.