7 tips to manage eye styes at home
If you’ve ever experienced a stye (it’s official name is hordeolum) you’ll know it can be painful and uncomfortable.
Styes come about when an oil gland on the edge of your eyelid becomes infected. It looks a bit like you have a pimple on your eyelid, and it can be on the inside or outside of your lid.
Here we have seven points of note about styes in the eye:
1. The first symptoms of a stye are pain, tenderness, redness, and swelling of the area. Following this, a small pimple will appear on the affected area and some swelling usually occurs around the eye.
2. In general, styes don’t cause issues with your vision.
3. The bacteria that cause a stye is called staphlococcal bacteria. It is found in your nose and is transferred in to your eye when you rub your nose followed by your eye.
4. While styes are contagious, most people have the bacteria that cause styes in their body already. If you get a stye it is best to avoid touching other people’s eyes. Keep your eyes and hands clean, and be sure to avoid sharing towels, pillows or sheets with others.
5. They don’t stick around too long, and most styes heal within about 3 days. Encourage the healing process by applying a hot compress (such as a hot wash cloth) to the stye for 10 minutes several times per day. It helps with pain relief and will also encourage the stye to come up. From there it will eventually rupture, then drain, and then heal itself.
6. They’re not the same as pimples, so you shouldn’t pop or squeeze a stye. Let it do its thing and it will eventually heal itself. If however your stye is on the inside of your eye and doesn’t seem to be getting better, it’s best to see a doctor who can remove it for you.
7. You can sometimes find that other issues with your eyes go hand in hand with a stye. For instance you might have a watery eye, increased sensitivity to light, or you might feel as though you have something in your eye.