Watering Eyes


What causes a watering eye?
There are many causes of a watery eye and some patients may have several causes of a watery eye at the same time.

Common causes include:
• Inflammation of the eyelid edges (called blepharitis) can result in excessive amounts of tears being produced.
• Loosening of the eyelids due to age, reducing their ability to wipe away the tears.
• An abnormal eyelid position (also called entropion or ectropion) can result in the punctum no longer being in the correct position to collect the tears.
• A narrowing of the punctum can prevent tears draining away.
• A blockage of the tear drainage system within the nose. Blockages at the bottom of the tear drainage system often leads to stagnation and collection of tears with the tear sac, which may then become infected.
ectropion

The picture on the left shows a patient with an ectropion (out-turning eyelid)- a common cause of watering usually treatable with simple eyelid surgery. The normal eyelid acts a like a gutter, channelling the tears towards the opening of the tear duct in inner corner of the eyelid. Incorrect positioning of the eyelid leads to loss of this gutter action and watering.
IMG_1538
This picture shows a patient with a blocked tear duct on her right. Yellow eye drops are instilled into both eyes at the same time and after 5 minutes most of the tears have drained away from the normal left side. However her right eye continues to retain the dye due to the blocked lacrimal system. Notice that she also has a small swelling (arrowed) within the tear duct system caused by persistent infection.






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