Unfortunately over the past few weeks, I've started to experience high levels of tearing again, so this follow-up visit did not have good information to share with the doctor. He knew from the start that I was having problems; he said first clue was the wad of Kleenex that I was holding ready in my hand. During examination, he noted high levels of fluid in each of my eyes and observed that I had less than 20% success at this point. He was very disappointed and after careful consideration made the comment that I had a couple of options at this point: I could have the DCR surgery again and he could assure that I would see better improvement, or I could consider having Jones tubes inserted in the inside corners of each eye. He discussed the "inconvenience" of the Jones tube, describing how I'd have to occasionally "blow out" (hold nostril and blow) the tubes and that I would have to have him clean them out once a year. He didn't want to go that route, but said he needed to let me know that it was an option. He kept saying it was unusual that I didn't have better success rate in at least one of the eyes, as the average success rate is 90%, and given that I had both eyes done, I should have seen better improvement in at least one eye.
He decided to remove the stents from each eye. I'm such a wimp, I stressed "how much will this hurt?" and his response was there might be a slight pinch but it would be brief. Using long tweezers, he snagged the stent in my right eye, gave a quick twist motion and the stent was out. No pain whatsoever - the stent slid right out before I even knew it. The left eye went the same. For some reason, I thought he was going to snip them apart in the corner of my eye and go up into my nostrils to pull them out. Nope - his way made total sense and worked excellently!
He gave me the choice to come back in 2 weeks or call him and we would discuss surgical options. I know that I have to do something to correct this tearing - it affects my daily life and I simply want to live without constantly wiping my eyes. I agreed to call him and we would see where we go next. He also put me back on my antibiotic nasal spray and ointment in my eye once each evening for about a week.
When I left his office, I was still tearing at an abnormal rate. Two days later now, I find that the tearing has diminished significantly. My eyes feel moist but tears do not fall as they've been doing for all this time. Maybe we have progress afterall!
