Sty in my eye

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jpmcgrew

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:neutral: Ive had a sty in my eye before in fact it was many years ago.Then it was no big deal a little bump and then it's gone. This time I think I had two on my upper lid they were very irritating and a lot of swelling but after 2 days they settled down. Well now I have one on the bottom lid it hurts and is swollen.
So bottom line does any one have a home recipe to speed this along?
Oh! Does anyone know what causes this pain in the butt?
 
I don't have a home remedy, but one thing we always kept on hand that helped a lot with that was eye wash. There are a few brands. It comes with a little eye cup (make sure to clean it well after each use) that lets you clean the eye really well. It is gentle and doesn't sting or anything. They sell it pretty much anywhere that sells eye drops or liquid tears.

:)Barbara
 
My mom used to get them and she put hot, wet packs on the sty 3 - 4 times a day. It seemed to make them go away in a day or 2. She also used boric acid eye washes that she bought at the pharmacy. HTH, JP. Nothing hurts worse than a sty.
 
We always used Golden Eye Ointment whenever we had a stye. We would put it on the eye before going to bed as it gets all liquidy when you apply heat to it, in this case body heat. Didn't usually take more than a couple of days treatment to get rid of them if you acted quickly. As to why you are getting them, I would suggest that you are rubbing the eye, perhaps unwittingly, and spreading the bugs. Even if you aren't, if you are letting them "explode", the pus will spread along the eye. Always wash your hand after touching your eye. If you wear contacts, try glasses for a bit, and keep your glasses clean too. Avoid little hands touching your face for a bit too, just like you would if you had conjunctivitis or a cold sore.

My understanding is that they are infected eyelash follicles. As to why they start, well why does a hair on your leg suddenly go icky?? Same reason. Big difference is you can put facial toner or a masque on your leg and you can't do that to your eye!!! :)
 
I remember now that I used to do that too, along with the eye wash. If nothing else, it made it feel better for awhile.

:)Barbara

Ditto. A nice, hot as you can stand it washcloth always brought relief.
 
JG--not to play doctor here but if it continues I'd check with a real doc just to be sure that you don't have an ongoing staph infection. Once those get started it's very difficult to get rid of them and they can lead to some serious complications---I ended up with a permanent scar on my upper lip because of one of those infections and it also spread to my nose. Be sure that you are not onlyare you washing your hands thoroughly but that you are also using a hand sanitizer ---GermX is very good and doesn't dry your hands out as it has moisturizers before any contact with your eyes. I agree with the others that warm compresses will really help---hope you get well soon
 
I always heard that a Sty is caused by the same bacteria that causes pimples. In fact, a Sty is nothing more than a pimple, but in your eyelid.

I've had a few, and boy, did they hurt!
 
Fusidic acid is helpful, but you can only get that from a doctors note I think.

when it comes to Eyes, it`s ALWAYS best to consult a Medical professional before taking any other action!
 
jpmcgrew, we had to visit our ophthalmologist about this issue a few years ago and it will keep coming back unless you can get it to a head and drain it. The sure fire way to do that is to put heat on it. You will see it come to a head and then it will quickly burst and drain itself. The doctor recommended that you heat a small spoon in a glass of hot water (as hot as you can stand it) and put that over your eye as often as possible. Don't wash with anything except clear water. You can use tea bags or hot compresses to heat it up, but the spoon works best. The other option was surgery to remove it (EEK!!), we opted for the hot spoon and it worked like a charm. Took a couple of days though. Good luck. I know how irritating they can be.
 
It really does work well. I hope that clears it up for you. Do you have ophthalmic Polysporin there? Its usually behind the pharmacists counter here, but it is available without prescription. Once that sty drains I would put some of that in/on it. Nice little antibiotic to kill any remaining germs.
 
jpmcgrew, we had to visit our ophthalmologist about this issue a few years ago and it will keep coming back unless you can get it to a head and drain it. The sure fire way to do that is to put heat on it. You will see it come to a head and then it will quickly burst and drain itself. The doctor recommended that you heat a small spoon in a glass of hot water (as hot as you can stand it) and put that over your eye as often as possible. Don't wash with anything except clear water. You can use tea bags or hot compresses to heat it up, but the spoon works best. The other option was surgery to remove it (EEK!!), we opted for the hot spoon and it worked like a charm. Took a couple of days though. Good luck. I know how irritating they can be.
Alix, this is the best tip ever!!!! Thank you so much for sharing this. I can see lots of uses for this method, too.

JP, my doc told me that as we get older, our eyes get drier. Since one purpose of tears is to keep our eyes clean, we tend to get more stys and other eye infections as we age and produce fewer tears. If you discover you are getting stys more often, you might look into using artificial tears. Since I started using them regularly, I haven't gotten another sty or infection.
 
You're very welcome Fisher's Mom. I hope it helps some. Thats one of the things I like best about this place, we all share the things that have worked well for us. Pool all our knowledge.
 
It really does work well. I hope that clears it up for you. Do you have ophthalmic Polysporin there? Its usually behind the pharmacists counter here, but it is available without prescription. Once that sty drains I would put some of that in/on it. Nice little antibiotic to kill any remaining germs.
:) Alix, DH is about 2 hours from home after being in Dallas for a week he is stopping at the pharmacy for me I would have done it but its hard to make the 90 mile round trip for some little thing. Thank God for cell phones or he wouldn't even know that it moved to my lower eye. The upper eye is clear as of yesterday.
 
:) I tried to tell DH it's his fault because I had to clean the cat box everyday while he was gone:LOL::LOL: He didn't fall for it:-p
 
Doctor?

JG--not to play doctor here but if it continues I'd check with a real doc just to be sure that you don't have an ongoing staph infection. Once those get started it's very difficult to get rid of them and they can lead to some serious complications---I ended up with a permanent scar on my upper lip because of one of those infections and it also spread to my nose. Be sure that you are not onlyare you washing your hands thoroughly but that you are also using a hand sanitizer ---GermX is very good and doesn't dry your hands out as it has moisturizers before any contact with your eyes. I agree with the others that warm compresses will really help---hope you get well soon

Last one I had, I did go to the doctor. I did what he said about hot compresses. When it didn't get better, went back; told me to continue with hot packs. So still having trouble went to different eye doctor. He had to use some kind of laser to destroy it. Like surgery. I do have a scar but not as bad as having no help from the first doctor. What a dork. Dummy! Just let it continue to get worse. He has a big practice here in St Louis. Was I the only one who he didn't know how to treat? I do think it was something to do with eyelash. Do not wear mascara too much. Hope you got good doctor jpmc.
 
And do throw any mascara if you've had an eye infection or you will be reinfecting yourself--- just like you're supposed to throw out toothbrushes after having orally induced infections like the flu, colds, etc. Glad that your eye infection finally got cleared up ITK!
 
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