A stye is a painful pimple-like lump on or near the edge of the eyelid. As worrisome and uncomfortable as it can be to have swelling so close to the eye, styes aren’t dangerous to your eyesight and may not even require a trip to the doctor. Bottom Line Personal asked optometrist Jeffrey Anshel, OD, for the full story about styes…
What Is a Stye?
A stye is a tiny staph infection—a form of bacterial infection—that typically occurs in an eyelash’s hair follicle. Styes also can occur on the inside of an eyelid—with these “internal” styes, it’s an oil-producing gland inside the eyelid that becomes infected. Inside-the-eyelid styes are especially likely to create the uncomfortable sensation of having something in the eye. In extreme cases, the swelling can put sufficient pressure on the eyeball to temporarily blur vision.
Similar: Something known as a chalazion can easily be mistaken for an internal stye. Both these conditions can cause swelling of the eyelid, but while a chalazion is the result of a clogged—not infected—eyelid oil gland and is less painful than a stye.
Good news: The same treatment is used for both styes and chalazions, so it isn’t vital for you to be certain which you have.
What Causes a Stye?
The question really is, what causes eyelid staph infections? Most of the time, they’re caused by touching the eyes with unwashed hands. The best prevention strategy, of course, is to wash your hands thoroughly before rubbing or touching your eyes or removing or putting in contact lenses.
Wearing makeup on the eyelids increases risk for styes, too. Be sure to remove eye makeup as promptly as possible…never share eye makeup…and discard old eye makeup.
Stye Treatment and Stye Self-Care
Styes typically do not require a trip to the doctor. They usually can be treated with warm compresses. Wet a folded washcloth, then microwave it for 15 to 20 seconds—the washcloth should be very warm but not uncomfortably hot to the touch. Place this folded washcloth over your closed eye, and keep it there until the towel starts to cool, then reheat the cloth or refold it to expose a section that’s still warm. Reapply until you reach a total warm-compress time of five to 10 minutes. Repeat this process a minimum of three to four times per day. These warm compresses should help bring the stye to a head, allowing it to drain. In the case of a chalazion, the compress can help unclog the oil gland.
If you don’t see progress after two days of warm compresses, see an eye doctor—he/she can prescribe antibiotic ointments to help. In extreme cases, a doctor might have to make an incision to drain a stye or chalazion.
Warning: Do not wear contact lenses or eye makeup until a stye is completely gone.
