Non-Surgical Persian Medicine-Based Treatment of Chronic Refractory Congenital Nasolacrimal Duct Obstruction in a Surgical Candidate (Thirteen-month-old) Infant

Abstract

Congenital or acquired obstruction is the most common anomaly of nasolacrimal duct (NLD). NLD obstruction (NLDO) is one of the most common problems in pediatric ophthalmology. Some symptoms of NLDO are seen in 6-20% of infants. NLDO creates two problems; first is disruption in the flow of tears that is due to epiphora. Another is the infection leading to stasis of fluid in the lacrimal system. Surgery is the choice treatment of chronic congenital NLDO in the refractory infants to massage and antibiotics. Dam-e is a watery discharge of eyes that has different reasons in Persian Medicine (PM). Based on the symptoms which was seen in patients with NLDO, it could be one of the subgroups of Dam-e. Conforming to Persian Medicine, residue of materials that moves from brain to the eyes and sediments in the NLD, can be the main reason of NLDO. Our case is the thirteen-month-old infant with congenital NLDO unresponsive to antibiotics and massage and has been a candidate for surgery. In PM view, to open the lacrimal duct obstruction, we use the properties of Persian Medicine’drugs (including Honey, camphor, vinegar and sesame oil) such as fragmentation of excreta (are Moghatte in PM), anti- obstruction (Mofatteh in PM), cleansing (Monaghi in PM) and descaling (Jali in PM) effects, and the patient’s symptoms were nonsurgically relieved. In the discussion of this paper, the properties of these drugs also check point of view of contemporary medicine’s viewpoints compared to Persian Medicine.