If you have a red bump on your eyelid, it could be a stye. A stye is annoying not only because of how it looks, but also because it irritates your eye. Styes can cause your eyelids to swell, triggering your eyes to produce extra tears that leave them itchy and watery.
While most styes can be treated at home, sometimes they need medical treatment. Your board-certified ophthalmologist or optometrist at Wolchok Eye Associates, PA, examines your eyes to ensure your eye health. Your eye doctor informs you whether home remedies can clear your stye or if you need an antibiotic or other treatment to clear an infection.
A stye is a raised, red bump on the edge of your eyelid. It’s uncomfortable, and you want it to disappear. You wonder why you have a stye.
Oil glands in your eyelid and eyelash follicles produce oils that coat your eye, helping to protect it and keep it moist to prevent your eyeball from drying out. Styes form when a combination of dead skin cells and bacteria mix with oil from the glands in your eyelid or eyelash follicle, creating a blockage in the oil glands.
Who is at risk for a stye?
Styes can result from rubbing your eyes with unclean hands. Not surprisingly, they’re more common in children than in adults.
Did you come home from a party and go to bed instead of washing your face and removing your makeup? During the night, your makeup mixes with bacteria on your face and can result in a stye.
Hormonal changes can also alter the quality of the oil in your glands, leading to a stye. Medical conditions as diverse as dandruff, diabetes, and rosacea can help contribute to a stye.
The following are helpful home remedies to help eliminate your stye:
Use baby shampoo or mild soap and water to cleanse your eye to remove bacteria. The drugstore also carries cleansing wipes.
After you’ve cleansed your eye, soak a clean washcloth in warm water and leave it over your eye for 10-15 minutes. The warmth and moisture help the stye to open and drain.
Place a black or green tea bag in boiling water, then cool it until it’s warm. Then, put it over your eye for 10-15 minutes. Tea has inflammation-reducing properties and helps lessen swelling.
Take ibuprofen or acetaminophen as needed for discomfort. Don’t overdo it, because all drugs have side effects.
Wash your pillowcases and sheets in hot water. Change your pillowcase frequently while you’re healing.
You may never leave the house without makeup, but avoid any makeup around your eyes until the stye is eliminated. Makeup clings to the bacteria and oils on your face and can make your stye worse.
When to see the eye doctor for a stye
Most styes disappear with home treatment, but if you experience any of the following symptoms, call our office for an appointment right away:
If your stye is more than an annoyance, your eye doctor can provide treatment, which may involve administering local anesthesia and draining it, prescribing antibiotic eye drops or oral antibiotics, and/or administering a steroid injection.
Call Wolchok Eye Associates, PA, today for expert eye care.
