Your healthcare provider or eye care specialist will diagnose epiphora with an eye exam. They might put colored eye drops in your eyes to see how they drain. Usually, your tears will wash the drops and dye away from your eye in a few minutes. If they don’t, there’s a chance you have a blocked tear duct. You might need a few imaging tests, including:
- X-rays.
- CT scan.
Your provider might use an endoscope — a long, flexible tube with a light on the end — to look inside your nasal cavity if they think the epiphora is caused by an issue in your tear ducts or sinuses.