Tears normally drain from the eye to the nasal cavity without dripping down the face. This process occurs through the lacrimal duct, a drain that starts at a small point of the lower eyelid and opens towards the nasal cavity via the lacrimal sac. So that tear drainage towards the nose is correct, the duct needs to have the right calibre, so that the tear stream passes through it without any major issues and, in addition, the lacrimal punctum needs to be in the right position. Under normal conditions, the lacrimal punctum is in closely bound to the eyeball. This makes the tears flow through the eyelid edge until they fall through the punctum and start to drop down towards the nose. If this punctum loses contact with the eyeball, the tears cannot find a normal way out and 'fall' down the face, which the person perceives as watering. This is what is happening with your husband: the punctum as separated from the eye, which is what we call lacrimal punctum ectropion. Although it's a very annoying problem, on its own it is not a serious condition and, in addition, the ophthalmologist can fix it with a simple outpatients procedure in which the lacrimal punctum is placed in its original position, which will make the annoying eye watering disappear.