diff --git a/balancer_conn_wrappers.go b/balancer_conn_wrappers.go
index 41061d6d3dc..4cc7f9159b1 100644
--- a/balancer_conn_wrappers.go
+++ b/balancer_conn_wrappers.go
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ func (acbw *acBalancerWrapper) UpdateAddresses(addrs []resolver.Address) {
 	acbw.mu.Lock()
 	defer acbw.mu.Unlock()
 	if len(addrs) <= 0 {
-		acbw.ac.tearDown(errConnDrain)
+		acbw.ac.cc.removeAddrConn(acbw.ac, errConnDrain)
 		return
 	}
 	if !acbw.ac.tryUpdateAddrs(addrs) {
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ func (acbw *acBalancerWrapper) UpdateAddresses(addrs []resolver.Address) {
 		acbw.ac.acbw = nil
 		acbw.ac.mu.Unlock()
 		acState := acbw.ac.getState()
-		acbw.ac.tearDown(errConnDrain)
+		acbw.ac.cc.removeAddrConn(acbw.ac, errConnDrain)
 
 		if acState == connectivity.Shutdown {
 			return
diff --git a/clientconn.go b/clientconn.go
index 0db796ccbd6..d57e54b4dc5 100644
--- a/clientconn.go
+++ b/clientconn.go
@@ -1446,10 +1446,9 @@ func (ac *addrConn) getReadyTransport() (transport.ClientTransport, bool) {
 }
 
 // tearDown starts to tear down the addrConn.
-// TODO(zhaoq): Make this synchronous to avoid unbounded memory consumption in
-// some edge cases (e.g., the caller opens and closes many addrConn's in a
-// tight loop.
-// tearDown doesn't remove ac from ac.cc.conns.
+//
+// Note that tearDown doesn't remove ac from ac.cc.conns, so the addrConn struct
+// will leak. In most cases, call cc.removeAddrConn() instead.
 func (ac *addrConn) tearDown(err error) {
 	ac.mu.Lock()
 	if ac.state == connectivity.Shutdown {