Factors affecting the success of nasolacrimal duct probing for congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction

Initial Late Probing for Congenital Nasolacrimal Duct Obstruction, Rate of Success and Factors Associated with Failure

“…No correlation was found between the age of patients and the result of probing. A similar finding was recorded by Mannor et al [9] . On the other hand, Sturrock et al [14] found initial probing less successful after the age of 2 years.…”

“…When the condition persists beyond several months, early office or hospital based probing around the age of one year yields good result [7,8] . Although the results of probing in children younger than 2 years are predictably good, controversy exists regarding the outcome of probing in older children [2,9] . …”

Endoscopic-assisted probing for congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction

“…4,12,16,24 However, as the natural history of spontaneous resolution is well recognised, 3,[7][8][9][10]13 it has been suggested that the decreasing success rate with increasing age is actually due to the process of natural selection, with cases of simple membranous obstruction at the distal NLD resolving, while more complex obstructions persist and accumulate in number. 25 This argument has been supported by a controlled study of probing vs observation during the second year of life, which identified that both are equally effective during this time (probing and observation resulted in the same outcome in children with epiphora between 1 and 2 years of age), but that the rate of spontaneous resolution/ probing success was lower than during the first year of life.…”

Morphological and morphometrical study of the nasal opening of nasolacrimal duct in man

“…Location in relation to the distance between the inferior concha and the floor of the nose: -U1/3 -the opening of NLD was located in the upper third of the distance between the attachment line of inferior nasal concha and the floor of nasal cavity in 7 out of 20 (35%) specimens (Figs. 6,7,11,12). In 4 of them the opening was in the form of vertical sulcus and in the other specimens it was oblique fissure.…”

“…Also obstruction can occur at any age but is particularly common in paediatrics. Congenital NLD obstruction is the most common cause of epiphora in new-borns and infants [4,5,7]. Congenital obstruction of the lacrimal drainage system is usually caused by a membranous block at the level of the opening of the NLD into the inferior nasal meatus [4,5].…”