Ask An Expert: Excessive Watering of the Eyes

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Ask An Expert: Excessive Watering of the Eyes

Question:

What is the cause of excessive watering of the eyes? Allergy medication and Visine-A don't seem to alleviate the problem.

Answer:

There are essentially two reasons that eyes water.

The first is that they are responding to some irritation. The irritation may be so subtle that you are unaware of its presence. Tear production can be a response to the irritant.

Patients with this type of condition usually have moist eyes, but the tears are not actually pouring onto the cheek. An office eye examination should disclose this type of problem.

The second possibility is that there is some obstruction to the natural drainage of tears into the nose. The site of obstruction can be at the little opening in the lid margin or further down in the tear duct.

Evaluation for tear duct obstruction is more complicated and may involve passing a small metal probe through the passages or placement of some dye in the tear film. However, patients with this problem usually have tears streaming down their face and have a handkerchief in their hands constantly.

The complaint of tearing can even be seen when the eye is actually dry. The gush of tears is a response to the eye being too dry.

Don Bienfang, M.D, is an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and the Senior Surgeon in the Department of Surgery and Chief of Neuro-Ophthalmology in the Department of Neurology at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

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Last updated:	January 24, 2007