Do you have a painful red bump just below the bottom of an eyelid at the inner corner near your nose? The cause for your corner of the eye inflammation is likely dacryocystitis.
Dacryocystitis means you have an infection in your lacrimal sac. The lacrimal sac is a pocket where tears drain into and out through the nose. Sometimes the tear duct that controls the drainage of fluid between this sac and your nasal passage gets blocked. It’s this blockage that creates an ideal environment for bacteria to grow. And one way to determine if you have a lacrimal sac infection is when you push slightly on your red swollen bump pus oozes out of the corner of your eye.
Dacryocystitis can occur as an acute or chronic infection. With acute dacryocystitis, your infection comes on suddenly and the lacrimal sac blockage resolves. Chronic dacryocystitis indicates your blockage isn’t opening, thus you’ll suffer with repetitive or longstanding infections.
Generally, symptoms caused by dacryocystitis are pain, redness, swelling, watery eyes and pussy discharge. However, when a lacrimal sac infection is severe, then an abscess might form.
Treatment for acute dacryocystitis is taking a round of an appropriate antibiotic. Also, applying a warm compress to the swollen lacrimal sac area can help with pus drainage, which should relieve some of your pain. For infants, try gentle massage rather than heat to assist in draining the sac. If you have an abscess, your health care provider may want to surgically open and drain it.
For chronic dacryocystitis, more extensive treatment is required. If your duct blockage is a permanent, then options include surgically opening it, bypassing it or removing your lacrimal sac altogether.