You need tears for a lot more than crying. They flow across the surface of your eyes to clean and moisten them, then they leave your eyes through a system of tiny drainage tubes that run along your nose.

Sometimes these tubes can get narrowed or blocked, which prevents the tears from draining out of your eyes. This extra fluid can leave your eyes watery.

If your eyes are watery and irritated, get them checked to find out whether it’s a blocked tear duct. If it is, your eye doctor has things he can do to open up the blockage and help your tears flow normally again. If the portion of the tear duct in the bone of the nose is blocked, it can cause a serious infection of the tear sac called dacryocystitis.