What’s that little hole in your eye?

The small hole in the eye, referring to the upper and lower tear ducts, is a normal structure of the eye. The tear ducts are located in the inner part of the upper and lower eyelids, and if the eyelids are turned outward, normal people can clearly see the hole-like structure. The lacrimal punctum belongs to the top part of the tear drainage system, which is divided into the lacrimal duct, the common lacrimal duct, the lacrimal sac, and the nasolacrimal duct. Diseases that occur in one of these structures will cause obstacles to the drainage of tears, and the patient’s subjective sensation will be the phenomenon of tearing. Diseases of the lacrimal punctum include lacrimal punctum atresia, inflammation of the lacrimal punctum, lacrimal punctum valves, etc. Most patients undergo slit lamp examination, which can clearly confirm the diagnosis, and those that cause obvious obstruction of the lacrimal duct need to undergo surgery, for example, most of the cases of lacrimal punctum atresia need to be operated, and the atretic lacrimal punctum is incised under local anesthesia, so as to achieve the effect of restoring smoothness, and regular review.