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This is just a heads-up story / cautionary tale about my dry eye/bleph experience with an ophthalmologist.
I saw an ophthalmologist early last year. I told her of my dry-eye/bleph symptoms and she did a tear-duct test, to rule out other things that might be causing tearing eg. clogged tear ducts, nasal cavity infection, etc.
For the tear-duct test, the Ophthalmologist uses that skinny instrument they stick into your tear duct, and then runs a saline solution through it — like a straw.
If the saline runs into the back of your throat and you are swallowing it, that means it's probably dry-eye, and not something more like a clogged tear-duct.
If the saline solution pours back OUT, that means there is a blockage of some sort, and Dry-eye is probably not the cause of the tearing.
She put the little probe into my tear duct, and the saline solution poured back OUT of my eye.
She then concluded I must have a nasolacriminal duct obstruction. She immediately asked if I wanted to have a procedure done at the hospital -- a Lacricath probing, and I declined.
I declined, because I just was in shock that there was a "blockage" in the first place.
Thing is, I had the same tear-duct test maybe 3 years prior with another Ophthalmologist, and the saline solution ran right back into my throat and i was swallowing it -- no blockage. But, maybe there was some changes for the worse?
She said she'd do a check-up with me if I liked in a year. My family doctor then made an appointment with an ENT (Ear, nose and throat) specialist. I had no idea what this specialist was, but hey, if it's a new person who might be able to help me with my tearing eye, why not?
So I see this ENT, and he gives me a requisition form to get an x-ray of my face, and says he might be doing "lots of work" on me. I didn't know what that meant, but I think it all started making sense -- he was talking about serious invasive surgery!
It was like I had fallen down the rabbit hole and I was in the twilight zone.
I talked to my family doctor about it, and he looked seriously unimpressed with me. I understand that family doctors see a lot of patients in one day, and the only thing doctors have to go on, are the letters they get back from the specialists, with test results. He showed me the letter stating I had refused her "Lacricath probing", and that I had a nasolacrminal duct obstruction.
It was in writing. And he did not believe me at all — and he made that quite clear.
My doctor looked seriously peeved at me -- like I was the problem, like I was not respecting and trusting the specialists.
So I gave it a rest. I didn't do the X-ray. I didn't talk with my Ophthalmologist. I did nothing. So 9 months goes by. My tearing eye is still bothering me, so long story short, I get another appt with another different Ophthalmologist in another city. (My city only has 2 Ophthalmologists). So I see this new Ophthalmologist, and he also does the tear-duct test.
I was nervous days before the appt. Because if he did the test, and the saline solution poured back OUT, that meant I really did have something more serious going on with my tear-ducts and would require surgery or more serious invasive procedures.
So he sticks in the little skinny probe into my tear-duct, and the saline solution..... pours into the back of my throat and i’m swallowing it...
Wow.
So, there was no obstruction or clogged tear-duct in the first place.
My doctor and I went more than a year thinking maybe there was an obstruction.
Whatever the Ophthalmologist in my city, had done, it was done wrong.
Maybe the probe (whatever the medical term is for the tool) was put into my tear-duct at the wrong angle?
I still have to deal with a tearing eye, but i’m relieved it’s not something more serious that requires invasive procedures and surgeries.
If you are unsure about a doctors test, don’t wait too long like I did to get a 2nd opinion sooner.
I saw an ophthalmologist early last year. I told her of my dry-eye/bleph symptoms and she did a tear-duct test, to rule out other things that might be causing tearing eg. clogged tear ducts, nasal cavity infection, etc.
For the tear-duct test, the Ophthalmologist uses that skinny instrument they stick into your tear duct, and then runs a saline solution through it — like a straw.
If the saline runs into the back of your throat and you are swallowing it, that means it's probably dry-eye, and not something more like a clogged tear-duct.
If the saline solution pours back OUT, that means there is a blockage of some sort, and Dry-eye is probably not the cause of the tearing.
She put the little probe into my tear duct, and the saline solution poured back OUT of my eye.
She then concluded I must have a nasolacriminal duct obstruction. She immediately asked if I wanted to have a procedure done at the hospital -- a Lacricath probing, and I declined.
I declined, because I just was in shock that there was a "blockage" in the first place.
Thing is, I had the same tear-duct test maybe 3 years prior with another Ophthalmologist, and the saline solution ran right back into my throat and i was swallowing it -- no blockage. But, maybe there was some changes for the worse?
She said she'd do a check-up with me if I liked in a year. My family doctor then made an appointment with an ENT (Ear, nose and throat) specialist. I had no idea what this specialist was, but hey, if it's a new person who might be able to help me with my tearing eye, why not?
So I see this ENT, and he gives me a requisition form to get an x-ray of my face, and says he might be doing "lots of work" on me. I didn't know what that meant, but I think it all started making sense -- he was talking about serious invasive surgery!
It was like I had fallen down the rabbit hole and I was in the twilight zone.
I talked to my family doctor about it, and he looked seriously unimpressed with me. I understand that family doctors see a lot of patients in one day, and the only thing doctors have to go on, are the letters they get back from the specialists, with test results. He showed me the letter stating I had refused her "Lacricath probing", and that I had a nasolacrminal duct obstruction.
It was in writing. And he did not believe me at all — and he made that quite clear.
My doctor looked seriously peeved at me -- like I was the problem, like I was not respecting and trusting the specialists.
So I gave it a rest. I didn't do the X-ray. I didn't talk with my Ophthalmologist. I did nothing. So 9 months goes by. My tearing eye is still bothering me, so long story short, I get another appt with another different Ophthalmologist in another city. (My city only has 2 Ophthalmologists). So I see this new Ophthalmologist, and he also does the tear-duct test.
I was nervous days before the appt. Because if he did the test, and the saline solution poured back OUT, that meant I really did have something more serious going on with my tear-ducts and would require surgery or more serious invasive procedures.
So he sticks in the little skinny probe into my tear-duct, and the saline solution..... pours into the back of my throat and i’m swallowing it...
Wow.
So, there was no obstruction or clogged tear-duct in the first place.
My doctor and I went more than a year thinking maybe there was an obstruction.
Whatever the Ophthalmologist in my city, had done, it was done wrong.
Maybe the probe (whatever the medical term is for the tool) was put into my tear-duct at the wrong angle?
I still have to deal with a tearing eye, but i’m relieved it’s not something more serious that requires invasive procedures and surgeries.
If you are unsure about a doctors test, don’t wait too long like I did to get a 2nd opinion sooner.
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