Question
Do infants with inflamed blocked tear ducts need surgery?
Answer
Infant blocked tear ducts are usually caused by congenital developmental issues and often lead to recurrent dacryocystitis. For infants aged 0 to 3 months, consider treatments such as cleaning, massage, and eye drops to alleviate symptoms. For babies between 3 months and 1 year old, cleaning and probing treatments can be considered, which do not require hospitalization or anesthesia and take about 10 minutes in total. For children over 1.5 years old, probing treatment is generally no longer considered, and surgery is recommended instead. The key is that while undergoing treatment, parents can learn massage techniques themselves, performing them 4 to 5 times a day, each for 5 to 10 minutes. After a month, they can then undergo tear duct irrigation. If the tear duct remains blocked, it is advisable to consider surgical treatment.