Question
My baby is almost four months old and she hasn’t been shedding tears much. Could it be dacryocystitis? Thank you.
Answer
There are three typical symptoms of dacryocystitis: Firstly, the baby often sheds tears without a clear cause or continuously, and some children may have erosion, redness, and dermatitis around the eyes or corners of the eyes. Secondly, the baby’s eyes often have a large amount of secretion, which is due to the excessive retention of lacrimal sac fluid caused by bacterial proliferation and infection, or due to fetal amniotic fluid contamination in the lacrimal sac leading to intrauterine infection. We refer to this part of dacryocystitis associated with lacrimal sac inflammation as fetal lacrimal sac inflammation. Thirdly, when pressing on the lacrimal sac (i.e., the outer corner of the eye), one can see the secretion coming from the lacrimal ducts under pressure.