3. Temporary & Permanent Punctal Plugs

When you have severe dry eyes even need to be Artificial Tears drops every 30 minutes, you may not be excluded as a candidate for dry eyes surgery for Punctal Plugs, but it is a condition that you must report to your doctor.

Dry eyes are caused by a shortage of tears, stopping the drains (called punctal occlusion ) can sometimes help improve the dry eyes symptoms. It is relatively common for conventional or wavefront custom LASIK Eye Surgery, the Lasik patients to receive punctal plugs.

LASIK

Punctal plugs help keep the eyes hydrated by blocking the drainage of the tears through the nasolacrimal duct into the sinus system. There are two ways to do this :

  • Temporary & Permanent Punctal Plugs
  • Permanently sealing the openings with cautery

Temporary & Permanent Punctal Plugs to treatment dry eyes after LASIK Eye Surgery.
It is far and away the most common way.

Inserting the plugs takes a few minutes in the clinic. Usually a few anaesthetic drops are used first and you hardly feel anything. Both types of punctal plugs are less than 1 cm and are not visible to an observer.

Temporary Dissolvable Collagen Punctal Plugs

Collagen plugs dissolve on their own, usually within a few days of insertion. They are a useful way to determine whether you might be a good candidate for permanent punctal plugs. After the plugs start to dissolve, and the dye eyes problem may return.

4 Weeks after the temporary plugs have been inserted, Do you need fewer artificial tears to keep your eyes comfortable with the plugs than before the plugs were inserted? If so, then permanent plugs are likely to help. If your eyes water too much, you should not need permanent plugs.

Permanent Punctal Plugs

If temporary plugging of the tear drains works well, then permanent plugs may be used. Permanent plugs are most commonly made of silicone or a hydrophilic acrylic. The permanent plugs can be placed in a sterile, office-setting in less than a minute without any discomfort and it can be removed. However, the main side effects of permanent punctal plugs is that it can get infected, then it must be removed.