Punctal plugs are a very effective treatment for dry eyes, when other treatments have been less than effective. Dry eyes can be more than a minor inconvenience for patients. It can be very painful.
Punctal plugs are not generally a first line treatment for dry eyes. Your eye care professional will need to make a definitive diagnosis first. Then other treatments may be tried to evaluate your response.
If these other treatments aren’t giving you the relief you need, you may be a candidate for punctual plugs. Here is how they work. Your eyes have lacrimal glands that produce the liquid or “tears” that bath the eye. Tears keep the eyes moist and help rid the eye of small particles of dust, dirt and pollutants.
These tears normally exit the eye through the tear ducts that are located in the upper and lower lids of the eyes at the bridge of the nose. You can see the puncta or openings on the inside of the lids. A small portion of tears are lost to evaporation also.
Punctal plugs are placed in these tear duct openings to keep the tears in the eyes. This dramatically decreases the amount of tears lost due to drainage. Increasing the amount of tears in the eyes and thus the lubrication will make the eye feel better.
Punctal plug insertion generally involves two different insertion procedures. The first insertion will be temporary plugs. This temporary plug will allow your doctor to evaluate how well this procedure is going to work for you. Occasionally, patients will have excessive tearing of the eyes when the puncta are plugged.
These temporary plugs will generally last 10 days to a few months. This is enough time for both you and your doctor to evaluate the effectiveness of punctal plugs for you. Punctal plugs are easily inserted and can easily be removed if necessary in your doctor’s office.
Your eye will first be numbed with an eye drop. Then the punctal plug will gently be inserted in the puncta using a sterile instrument. The procedure takes about a minute to perform. Your doctor will discuss with you prior to the procedure which type of plugs will be inserted. Upper and lower tear ducts can be plugged in this manner. Your doctor may elect to do just the lower ducts, or all four may be plugged.
Patients generally have no discomfort with this procedure and tolerate the plugs well. Plugs are tiny and not visible to others. Although the plugs are designed to be permanent, plugs do come out on occasion. Your Los Angeles eye doctor can insert another plug if this happens.
If you are bothered by dry eyes, be sure to discuss punctal plugs with your eye care professional. If your Los Angeles eye doctor does not put them in, a referral can be made to an eye care professional that places punctal plugs. Comfort can be one small procedure away.
