Watery eye - having a watery eye is more common than you think

A watery eye can be caused by either an overproduction of tears or by reduced tear drainage. Tears are the normal protective mechanism or the eye when irritated.  A common form irritation is blepharitis (inflammation of the eyelid glands) and this can be easily treated with regular cleaning and sometimes antibiotics.

Children and adults can both be affected by reduced tear drainage.  It is a very common problem in infants but will usually settle by one year of age.  If it doesn't settle then it can be easily treated with a small procedure.  Simarly with adults (at any age) watering may occur, and is normally due to inflammation, requiring a small procedure to allow the tears to drain. 

Our team are specialists at treating both adults and children. 

Watery eye

The watery eye

Tears are formed by the lacrimal gland, which lies beneath the outer part of the upper lid, and by cells in the conjunctival surface of the eye.

Watering of the eye (epiphora)

This is a very common symptom for which there are a wide variety of causes. In general the problem results either from an over production of tears or reduced drainage of tears.

Causes of overproduction of tears

Anything that irritates the eye, such as a foreign body or a scratch to the surface, will result in epiphora. The watering is a protective mechanism to help clear debris away from the eye. Watering also occurs in emotive states or as a response to bright lights.

The most common cause is blepharitis. This condition occurs when there is inflammation in the eyelid glands and sometimes debris accumulates along the lid margin (edge of the eye lid), resulting in irritation. This can be treated with regular lid margin cleansing and may require courses of topical or oral antibiotics.

Drainage of tears

Tears are drained from the eye by narrow passages (canaliculi) that begin in the inner corner of the eyelids. These passages drain into a tear sac in the inner corner of the eye (lacrimal sac) and pass down into the nose via a duct (nasolacrimal duct).

Obstruction to tear drainage

Watery eye (child)

Children

Epiphora is a very common problem, occurring in up to 30% of infants. There is a membrane at the lower end of the nasolacrimal duct, which will open on its own in over 90% of cases by the age of 12 months. If symptoms persist when the child is one year old, the condition can be cured in 95% of cases by passing a probe along the passageways under a brief general anaesthetic. Occasionally, this is performed earlier if the child has particularly troublesome symptoms.

Adults

Watery eye (adult)

Watering may occur at any age and results from a gradual narrowing of the upper end of the nasolacrimal duct, generally from chronic inflammation. Syringing the tear ducts may give temporary relief, but this is mainly used to aid in diagnosis. The treatment is to make a new passageway for tears to flow into the nose, bypassing the blocked duct. This is a more major procedure but is generally performed under local anaesthesia with sedation.

For more information on watery eye please contact our friendly specialist team