SUBCONJUNCTIVAL SECTION OF THE DUCTULES OF THE LACRIMAL GLAND AS A CURE FOR EPIPHORA

Abstract

Epiphora, a trying condition when acute, makes life miserable in the persistent chronic form. This paper does not concern types or conditions which are remediable by recognized therapeutic forms of treatment but deals with types which the oculist has failed to relieve by less heroic measures. The conditions which repeated probing for occlusion of the nasal duct has failed to relieve and complete obliteration of the lacrimal sac and canaliculi following extirpation of the sac are especially aided by the procedure to be described. Cases of such a condition are galling to the operator, as the patient expects a perfect cure and is likely to feel that the postoperative condition of epiphora is as trying, if not more so, than the condition prior to the operation ; and this may be the case, for I have sometimes seen in addition to the lacrimation an unsightly ectropion. Extirpation of the gland has