Probing advised near 8 months of age in congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction

PARIS — Nasolacrimal probing can be a good option in infants with congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction, according to one study.

“Our study was an attempt to develop a common attitude based on statistics,” said Jean Marc Ruban, MD, at the annual meeting of the French Society of Ophthalmology (SFO).

The pathology is quite frequently encountered in pediatric ophthalmology, but so far there is no uniform approach to therapy, he said. He added that if probing has recently become an option, many centers still prefer the medical treatment of local secondary infections like conjunctivitis and wait for the spontaneous resolution of the pathology.

The randomised, prospective study was conducted in Lyon, France on two groups of infants who were between 3 and 12 months old. One of the groups was kept under medical surveillance and occasional infection treatment, while the second group underwent probing.

Results demonstrated that between the ages of 3 and 8 months, there is no statistically significant difference between the two methods. Both had a comparable rate of success (86%), the study found. However, probing was demonstrated to have a more rapid healing effect.

“With probing, the delay of healing was very short, between 10 and 20 days, while medical treatment took more than 2 months,” Dr. Ruban said.

On the other hand, the rate of spontaneous healing was constantly decreasing with age. After 8 months of age, less than 8% of children had spontaneous healing.

“Around the age of 8 months, if not earlier, probing should be the solution that we offer to these patients, without any further delay,” Dr. Ruban concluded.