Comparison of the efficacy of early vs. delayed probing in patients with congenital tear duct obstruction at the Instituto Nacional de Salud del Niño

Introduction: Congenital lacrimal obstruction is the most common cause of epiphora in children.Tear duct probing is a procedure that is performed when there is no spontaneous resolution in the first year of life.There is controversy about the optimal time to perform this procedure.There are authors who report a higher success rate when performed early, and others who report that the success rate is independent of age.Objective: To compare the efficacy of early vs. late probing in patients with congenital lacrimal obstruction from the Instituto de Salud del Niño (INSN), in Lima, Peru.Method: A retrospective, comparative and longitudinal study that included all patients with a diagnosis of congenital lacrimal obstruction, from 6 months to 5 years, who underwent probing in the 2013-2018 period at the INSN.Results: 272 eyes of 223 patients were studied.The overall probing success rate was 57.7%, being higher in early probing with 60.97%.Conclusions: The success rate of early probing is higher than the success rate of late probing in patients with congenital lacrimal obstruction from the INSN.