| Therapeutic Effect of Squeezing the Punctum and Lacrimal Canaliculus in Canaliculitis Patients. |
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Hyun Kyu Lee, Jin Hwan Park, Joon Sik Lee, Hwa Lee, Se Hyun Baek |
1Department of Ophthalmology, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. shbaek6534@korea.ac.kr
2Department of Ophthalmology, Cheonan Chungmu Hospital, Cheonan, Korea. |
| 눈물소관염에서 절개 없이 압박에 의한 결석제거의 치료 효과 |
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이현규1⋅박진환1⋅이준식2⋅이 화1⋅백세현1 |
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고려대학교 의과대학 안과학교실1, 천안 충무병원 안과2 |
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Received: 19 June 2015 • Revised: 30 November 2015 • Accepted: 16 February 2016 |
| Abstract |
PURPOSE
To report the therapeutic effect of squeezing the punctum and lacrimal canaliculus using Q-tips in canaliculitis patients. METHODS: From March 2004 to February 2014, 42 eyes of 42 patients diagnosed with canaliculitis at our clinic were retrospectively analyzed. To remove the discharge and concretions, the punctum and lacrimal canaliculus were squeezed using Q-tips without invasive procedures. RESULTS: The mean patient age was 56.39 years and mean follow-up period was 10.6 months. No statistical significance was observed in terms of rate of disease occurrence and mean age between males and females. Among the eyes analyzed, 30 (71.4%) were cured with only 1 squeezing procedure, 12 eyes (28.6%) required more than 2 procedures; 1 eye (2.3%) recurred and the period until recurrence was 3.8 months. CONCLUSIONS: Most studies support surgical management as the definitive therapy for canaliculitis to remove concretions that serve as a reservoir for bacteria. The gold standard treatments are curettage or canaliculotomy; however, these are not safe procedures and may result in epiphora in post-procedure patients due to the risk of lacrimal pump dysfunctioning or scarring of the canalicular system following invasive procedure. Squeezing punctum and lacrimal canaliculus only using Q-tips is effective in removing the canalicular concretions and without causing complications in the canalicular system. |
| Key Words:
Canaliculitis;Punctum;Squeezing procedure |
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