How To Get Rid of Styes

Howdy,

Thank you for visiting my super awesome little blog all about how to get rid of styes.

If you’re a first-time visitor, you’ll find lots of information about ways you can get rid of that annoying stye in your eye and how you can stop styes developing in the first place.

If you’re a returning visitor, I hope you you like the new web design style – I have tried to make it less cluttered and easier to read.

Right, let’s take a look at how you can get rid of your stye…

Most styes will heal on their own within around a fortnight of them appearing.

Occasionally, a particularly stubborn infection will take longer to heal and may develop into a chalazion. If this happens, you should visit your doctor who will either prescribe you antibiotics to help fight the infection or offer to cut the stye or chalazion out with surgery.

Fortunately, these cases are in the minority and most styes can be treated by yourself at home using everyday household items.

By using the following fantastic stye treatment, you can cut down the two week healing time to just two or three days (and in some cases, you will be able to get rid of your stye overnight).

The warm compress…

If you speak to a doctor, nurse or other medical professional about getting rid of styes, they will most likely recommend the warm compress.

This is a tried and tested method that has been successful time and time again, which is why it is so highly recommended by the medical fraternity.

In fact, if you go to your doctor soon after a stye has developed on your eyelid, they will probably send you away with instructions on how to apply the warm compress – it is usually only when you have been suffering from a stye for a number of weeks that your doctor will offer alternative treatments.

A warm compress is, quite simply, a clean towel, flannel or washcloth that is soaked in warm water and held against your eyelid for around five minutes.

This process is then repeated 3 or 4 times a day until the stye has gone.

How to apply a warm compress…

The series of photographs below shows you how a apply a warm compress to your stye (please excuse the low quality of the pictures – I only had my cellphone camera available when I took them).

Step 1: Soak a washcloth in warm water (water from your hot tap will be of the sufficient temperature).

Step 2: Squeeze the washcloth to wring out any excess water.

Step 3: Fold the washcloth so that it is a useful size for holding against your eye.

Step 4: Hold the hot wet washcloth against you eye for around 5 minutes. Ensure your hold it firmly rather than loosely but not so hard that it hurts.

Repeat this procedure four times at various intervals throughout the day and in more than 90% of cases the stye will be gone within a couple of days.

Related: Video of making a warm compress

What if the warm compress doesn’t work?

In the rare cases that the warm compress is not successful in getting rid of a stye, there are a few other stye remedies that you can try.

In the interests of making this webpage as comprehensive as possible, I have included a few stye treatments that I do not recommend because there is either no evidence of them working or they are what I consider to be snake oil remedies. These so-called ‘treatments’ have the words ‘Not Recommended‘ in red letters alongside them.

Alternative Stye Remedy #1 – The Pluck

Although I’ve not tried this method myself, I have reports of quite a few people that have had success with this method.

It only works for styes that are caused by an infection of an eyelash follicle, and involves removing the offending eyelash by plucking it with a pair of tweezers.

You MUST continue with the warm compress after the eyelash has been plucked until the stye has gone.

Alternative Stye Remedy #2 – Antibiotics

As I touched upon before, your doctor will only prescribe antibiotics if you have had your stye for multiple weeks or it is causing you a significant amount of pain.

Antibiotics come in the form of either a cream to rub on your stye or a tablet that is taken orally.

Alternative Stye Remedy #3 – Surgery

Like antibiotics, you must visit your doctor to have a stye surgically removed – I think it goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that on no account should you try to cut it out yourself!

Again, your doctor will usually only offer this as an option if your stye is particularly persistent or painful.

Surgery is a quick, painless procedure performed under local anaesthetic that leaves hardly any noticeable scarring so if you have an operation scheduled, there’s really nothing to worry about.

More information about Stye Surgery can be found here.

Alternative Stye Remedy #4 – EyeEco Stye Care Kit

EyeEco, a company specialising in eye care products, manufacture a stye care kit, which aims to make the warm compress much easier to apply for people who are constantly on the move.

It basically consists of an eyepatch and thermo-gel pack, which keeps the warm compress in place and warm whilst you continue with other activities.

Although it is simply a variation of the warm compress method, if you are a busy person and suffer from recurring styes then it may be worth taking a look at.

Find out more about EyeEco’s Stye Care Kit here.

Alternative Stye Remedy #5 – Gold (Not Recommended)

There is an old wives tale that suggests rubbing gold (i.e. a gold ring) on your stye periodically will get rid of a stye.

There is literally no scientific evidence to suggest that this method works.

Alternative Stye Remedy #6 – Ointments (Not Recommended)

There are a number of ointments, creams and eye drops on the market (click here for more details) that claim to provide relief and help to heal styes.

In my experience, they do not work. At best you’ll get a little pain relief when you apply it because of the natural soothing sensation of the cool cream.

Alternative Stye Remedy #7 – Squeezing (Not Recommended)

Squeezing or popping a stye, like you would a pimple, is definitely NOT RECOMMENDED.

If you pop your stye, it will not only hurt immensely but can also worsen the existing infection, spread the infection and damage the tissue of your eyelid.

Do not under any circumstances attempt to get rid of your stye by squeezing it.

Click here for more info about popping a stye.

Alternative Stye Remedy #8 – Teabags, Eggs, herbs and spices (Not Recommended)

Variations of the warm compress method include mixing various herbs and spices such as guava leaves, coriander seeds, parsley and tea tree oil with hot water.

Other oft-cited variations are to hold a recently used warm teabag against the eye or even a hard-boiled egg.

None of these solutions are, in my experience, any better than just using pure undiluted water.

Alternative Stye Remedy #9 – Painkillers

Although not actually a method of getting rid of a stye, painkillers such as aspirin or paracetamol can often take the edge off the discomfort a stye causes.

Summary

I hope you’ve found this page about how to get rid of styes useful and if you have any questions, feel free to comment below or email at dan@get-rid.org.

Dan

Related Pages

Styes TerminologyYour Stye Photos