This morning I took Kellen to see the pediatric opthamologist. She was really nice and very good with him, and we had a good appointment. Based on what I have learned, blocked tear ducts occur in about 5% of newborns (some estimates are as high as 20%). Most of these cases will go away on their own as the baby develops. Many are already cleared up by the 3 month point, one of the reasons we went to see the specialist already. For those cases that aren't better as babies approach the year mark, a quick surgery is done.
Basically, when you have a blocked tear duct there is a membrane that connects the nasal passage to the eye (explaining why you get stuffy/a runny nose when you cry). This membrance generally is gone before birth, but in some cases needs longer to dissolve or needs to be scraped off. So if he needs surgery, they basically will go in and scrape it off. This takes about 5 minutes, and requires no IV's or blood work thankfully, but is done in a hospital under nitrous oxide anesthethic. Kellen will be seen again at the end of July if his eye is not better and we'll schedule the proceedure at that time if necessary. For now, I learned some eye massge techniques which will hopefully help get rid of the membrane way before then!
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