The first treatment for my dry eyes involved blocking my tear ducts - technically known as punctal ducts. Up until this point I never even knew I had any! These are the tiny holes on the inner lower and upper lids of your eyes (If you look really carefully close up you should be able to see them). Their job is to drain away tears from the eyes into the nose (hence the runny nose when crying). They are constantly working as the eyes continuously produce small amounts of tears to keep our eyes lubricated, protected and healthy.
Eye diagram
To insert the plugs (by the way these are just made of silicone and are flexible to enable easy insertion), I was told to lie down on the couch. The opthalmologist and nurse then positioned a large magnifying glass over my eyes, sterilised my eyes and then inserted the plugs.
YouTube video showing punctal plug and punctal duct (hope your not squeamish!)I would describe this process as more uncomfortable than painful. As it was done on the same day as my eye exam my eyes looked a little messy and sore when they finished. My eyes also had a strange yellow tinge caused by the dye used to examine for dryness (my eyes probably resembled something from a sci-fi movie :)).
I went home from this appointment with my eyes plugged, bag full of eye drops and ointment and new hope that all of this will be the magic solution to fix my dry eyes. Little did I know I would have to return for an even more daunting eye procedure...
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