Stye : Causes and Treatment

A stye is a painful, red coloured swelling on your eyelid. It is generally caused due an infection of the hair follicle of your eyelash. Sometime the swelling may be due to an infection in the oil producing gland in the eyelid.

Causes of Stye

Stye, also called hordeolum, is caused by infection. They can be of two types:

• External hordeolum: infection of the hair follicle of the eyelid
• Internal hordeolum: a stye inside your eyelid, infection of the oil producing glad in the eyelid.

Symptoms of Stye

The symptoms seen in stye are:

• Tearing of eye
• Crusting along the eye margin
• Sensitivity to light
• Red painful nodule on the eyelid
• Pus spot at the centre of the nodule
• Scratchy feeling in the eye.

Individuals with acne rosacea and seborrheic dermatitis are more likely to get a stye. Diseases like diabetes also predispose an individual to stye.

Treatment of Stye

The aim of the treatment o f stye is to reduce the swelling and pain in addition to killing the bacteria causing the disease. You will be advised to:

• Soak a towel in warm water and hold it on the eye affected by stye for 10 minutes, about three times a day
• Take antibiotics as prescribed by your ophthalmologist
• Get a steroid shot if the swelling is too big and affecting your vision
• Surgically drain the stye if it is too big: this procedure is done under local anaesthesia in the office of your doctor. Draining the pus from the stye reduces its size and helps in hastening recovery
• Not press the stye to pop it!

Resources

• AAO- eye health, stye