Office probing of congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction

We report the results of office nasolacrimal duct probing under topical anesthesia in 2369 eyes with symptomatic nasolacrimal duct obstruction. The overall success rate for cure by initial probing was 92%. In patients less than 9 months old, a 94% cure rate was achieved with one probing; in patients 9 months and older, the rate decreased to 84%. The decrease in success rate after 9 months was statistically significant (P less than .00001 by chi-square analysis). A majority of 180 parents of these patients surveyed said they were happy with the office procedure and preferred having the probing performed to resolve symptoms, even though they realized that the symptoms most probably would resolve by 1 year of age without it. We conclude that office probing for congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction is a safe and effective method for treatment of symptomatic nasolacrimal duct obstruction, allowing the cost and risk of general anesthesia as well as the cost and inconvenience of prolonged medical management to be avoided.