Your eyes produce 15-30 gallons of tears yearly. Tears are vital not only when you cry but also for nourishing, lubricating, and protecting your cornea, which safeguards your iris and pupil and promotes light entrance to the exterior. Sometimes though, you may experience an overproduction of tears. That is one common condition that the best Peoria oculofacial plastic surgeon deals with frequently. When you have excessive tearing and visit a surgeon’s office, one possible treatment may be a tear duct surgery. The procedure involves creating minor sutures on your nose to create a new pathway for tear drainage.

Before you go for treatment for a problem that makes your eyes too wet, understand that the condition may result from different issues. And the cause of the teary eyes will determine your treatment solution. Below are the leading issues that may lead to your unusual tearing, medically referred to as epiphora.

• Blocked tear ducts

It is common for new-borns to have eyes that are too watery, an issue that tends to disappear within a couple of weeks or months. The blockage of tear ducts is often the main suspect.

As an older child or adult, you may have blockage of tear ducts in one or two eyes. Often the issue with your tear ducts comes with other signs and symptoms, including crusting of eyelashes and eyelid corners, inflammation and redness of your eyes, and blurry vision. The symptoms can aggravate when exposed to freezing temperatures and windy weather.

Apart from the issue of blockage, your ducts can also narrow when your eyes swell or inflame.

The narrowing or blockage of your tear ducts will cause more accumulation of tears in the tear sac. Since tears cannot drain away, you become susceptible to infection and the production of a sticky liquid that worsens the situation.

• Excess creation of tears

Your eyes may overproduce tears when you have different conditions, like colds, injuries, infections, and eyelid issues.

• Eyelids and eyelash issues

Eyelids are essential as part of your eye structure to clean the surface of your eyes by sweeping away excess moisture and dirt. But, the eyelids and your eyelashes can sometimes point inwards, rubbing against your visual organ and causing unusual tearing. Malpositioning of your eyelids can occur due to an infection, misfortune, a tumor, nerve damage, or eye harm.

Your eyelids can also cause tearing as they turn outwards, thus not wiping or partially wiping your eye.

• Reflex tearing

The automatic tearing happens whenever your nerves sense that you are dealing with overly dry eyes. Dry eyes put you at risk of infection, swelling, and damage. The cornea’s surface touching can trigger sores and vision loss and cause reflex tearing. The resulting reflex tears may not remain longer on the surface of the cornea and sclera to cure your dry eye.

• Injury

If you injure the layer that protects your eye, you will experience more than usual tearing. Although the damage does not often last longer, closely monitor it since it is susceptible to infections. Contact Arizona Ocular & Facial Plastic Surgery today to treat your facial problems, including excessive tearing.