Patent ID: 6238364
Filing Date: 2001-05-29
Classification: A61F

Abstract:
A method of inserting lacrimal stent apparatus in a surgically formed ostium between a patient's lacrimal sac and nasal cavity, said stent apparatus comprising a silicone rod with proximate and distal ends and including a very large diameter end segment which at all times during said insertion of said stent apparatus has an outer diameter which is larger than the largest diameter stent which can be pulled through the patient's canaliculi readily without damaging the canaliculi, a moderate diameter segment having an outer diameter smaller than said largest diameter, a relatively thin central segment between said very large diameter end segment and said moderate diameter segment, and a distal segment between the distal end of said silicone rod and an end of said moderate diameter segment, said method comprising:pulling said silicone rod from said distal end up through the patient's nose, the patient's ostium, the patients's lacrimal sac, the patient's common canaliculus, one of the patient's superior and inferior puncta,pushing said distal end of said silicone rod through the other of the patient's puncta, the other of the patient's canaliculi, the patient's common canaliculus, the patient's lacrimal sac, and the patient's ostium into the patient's nasal cavity,grasping said distal end of said silicone rod in the patient's nasal cavity and pulling said rod down the patient's nose and out the patient's external naris, thereby pulling said moderate diameter segment through said patient's nasal cavity, the patient's ostium, the patient's lacrimal sac, the patient's common canaliculus, said one of the said patient's canaliculi, said one of said patient's puncta, said other of said patient's puncta, said other of the patient's canaliculi, the patient's common canaliculus, the patient's lacrimal sac, the patient's ostium, and the patient's nasal cavity, and thereby pulling said very large diameter end segment up through the patient's nasal cavity, the patient's ostium, into the patient's lacrimal sac, whereby said very large diameter end segment and moderate diameter segment are positioned in the patient's ostium, nasal cavity and lacrimal sac and said thin central segment is positioned in the patient's palpebral fissure between the puncta, the superior and inferior puncta, the superior and inferior canaliculi and the common canaliculus.