Quick answer
What is watering eyes and blocked tear ducts?
Watering eyes happen when you make too many tears or your tears cannot drain away properly, often because the tear duct is blocked or narrowed. It is common in babies and in older adults. Many cases settle on their own or with simple measures, but a persistently blocked tear duct can be treated with a procedure or oculoplastic surgery to restore normal drainage.
What causes watering eyes?
Tears keep the front of the eye healthy and then drain away through tiny channels at the inner corner of each eye into the nose. A watering eye happens when this balance is upset — either too many tears are made, or they cannot drain away properly.
Too many tears
Ironically, dry or irritated eyes often water, because the irritation triggers a flood of tears. Wind, allergies, an eyelash rubbing the eye, or an eyelid that turns in or out can all cause watering of this kind.
Poor drainage
If the tear-drainage channels are narrowed or blocked, tears spill over the lid instead of draining. This is common in babies, whose ducts are often not fully open at birth, and in older adults, where the ducts can narrow with age.
Treatment
Treatment depends on the cause. Babies usually need only gentle massage and time. In adults, options range from treating the underlying irritation to oculoplastic and orbital surgery — such as an operation to create a new tear-drainage channel — when a blockage will not clear.
When to seek help
See a GP if watering is persistent or troublesome. Get urgent help for a painful, red, tender swelling at the inner corner of the eye, or for any change in your vision.
Common questions
- Why does my eye keep watering?
- Either your eye is making too many tears, often as a reaction to dryness, wind or irritation, or the tears are not draining away because the tear duct is narrowed or blocked. An eye specialist can work out which it is.
- Do babies' blocked tear ducts need treatment?
- Most blocked tear ducts in babies clear on their own by around their first birthday. Gentle massage and keeping the area clean can help. See a GP if the eye becomes red, swollen or repeatedly infected.
- How is a blocked tear duct treated in adults?
- If simple measures do not help, a blocked tear duct can be treated with a procedure to open the drainage system, or with an operation called a DCR that creates a new drainage channel. Both aim to stop the constant watering.
- Is a watering eye serious?
- Usually not, but a painful, red, swollen inner corner of the eye can mean the tear sac is infected and needs prompt treatment. Any change in vision should also be checked urgently.