The Clinical Evaluation on the Patients Complaining of Epiphora.

Lew, Helen; Lee, Sang Yeul; Kim, Sung Joo

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society 2000;41(5):1112-1117.
Published online May 1, 2000.

The Clinical Evaluation on the Patients Complaining of Epiphora.

Helen Lew, Sang Yeul Lee, Sung Joo Kim

Department of Ophthalmology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

유루를 주소로 내원한 환자들에 관한 임상 고찰

이상렬(Sang Yeul Lee),김성주(Sung Joo Kim),유혜린(He Len Lew)

Abstract

The clinical analysis on the etiologies was done along with frequency of the patient's complaints of epiphora.The etiologies of the fifty-four patients screened by fluorescein dye disappearance test were classified by the causative location of the lacrimal pathway. The average of the patient's ages was 48.7 years old and average duration of symptom was 26.1 months.The causative locations were punctum[35.2%], nasolacrimal duct, lacrimal pump and nasal cavity in following order.The most common causes of each group were senile lid laxity[5.6%] for lacrimal pump, conjunctivochalasis and punctual atresia[11.1%]for lacrimal pump, idiopathic narrowing[9.3%]for canaliculus and idiopathic narrowing[16.6%]for nasolacrimal duct.Probing was the most common past history[18.5%]and the kinds of treatment were dacryocystorhinostomy, punctoplasty, lid tightening, probing, and conjunctivod acryocystorhinostomy. These data are expected to be a useful guide of rapid diagnosis and appropriate treatment for the epiphora patients without complicate processes and discomfort.

Key Words: Epiphora;Lacrimal pump;Nasolacrimal duct;Punctum