Occasionally, you may feel all the symptoms of a stye but not be able to see or feel the lump or bump on the eyelid that you would expect.

In fact, this is quite common and is nothing to worry about because not all styes will develop a noticeable head.

Medically speaking, there is probably a head at the top of your stye but because some of the glands that can be infected with a stye are so tiny, you aren’t always able to observe it (without a microscope).

If you’ve had a stye before you will probably recognize the discomfort and, to be honest, this is sometimes the only way to know if you have one. You may have a sore eyelid and feel as though there is something in your eye constantly and sometimes it might even swell so that you can’t open your eye properly.

But you won’t always get an actual visible cyst on your eyelid.

The good news is that you can get rid of your stye within a day or two using the method described here.

As always, if you’re in doubt you should consult your doctor.

Danny

You may have heard people (myself included) talk about internal styes and external styes and be wondering what the difference between the two are and if they should be treated differently.

In this post, I’ll attempt to explain this

Note: If you’re looking for an effective remedy to get rid of a stye fast, click here.

External Styes

External styes are perhaps the more common of the two types of stye and develop with the head pointing outwards (hence the word external).

Because they develop on the surface of the eyelid, they are more visibly noticeable than internal styes and you may observe a a yellowish or whitish head that resembles a pimple (although on no account should you try to pop it).

External styes are usually an infection of an eyelash follicle or nearby gland.

External Stye

Internal Styes

Internal styes develop with the head pointing inwards, which makes them much less visible than external styes.

You may be able to see it by turning your eyelid inside and looking in the mirror (or taking a photograph of your stye) but often you will only know of it’s existence because of the pain and discomfort it is causing you.

Internal styes are usually caused by an infection of a Meibomian gland, which is the gland that secretes the tear film that covers your eyeball.

Internal Stye

Whether you are suffering from an internal stye or an external stye, the treatment is still the same.

Hope this was useful to you

Danny

I had an email recently telling me that the best way of getting rid of styes is to rub a copper penny on it. The sender was adamant (and quite aggressive) that this was the only method that should be used and I was wrong to recommend the warm compress!

After a little research on the Internet, I discovered a few variations to the ‘copper penny method’:

• Rub the copper penny on a piece of cloth so it gets warm, then hold the edge against your eye.
• Boil the copper penny to sterilize it, wait for it to cool then hold it against your eye.
• Freeze the copper penny in the freezer, take it out and hold it against your eye.

When I used to get styes (pretty much every month or two) I tried the copper penny method and it didn’t work for me. In addition, like the Gold Method, there is no scientific or medical evidence to back up the claim that it is a bona fide stye remedy.

Therefore, I can not recommend this as a way to get rid of a stye.

I appreciate that other people may have used this method and had success with it but my gut instinct tells me that their stye disappeared despite the copper penny rather than because of it.

Scientifically speaking, copper itself should not affect the healing process of a stye at all. The only part that makes any sense to me is the variation that says to warm it up before putting it against your eye because increasing the temperature of the eyelid promotes blood flow to the area, which can help recovery (which is exactly the same reason why the warm compress is warm).

If you want to get rid of a stye using a tried and tested technique that has been proven to work almost 100% of the time, use the warm compress.

If you’ve had a stye in your eye for a long time (more than a few weeks) it could actually be a chalazion that you’re suffering from.

Styes and chalazia are very similar in appearance, so I thought it would be useful to discuss the differences between these two eye diseases so that you can ascertain which one you have.

Chalazia Last Longer

As I touched upon earlier, chalazia tend to remain on your eyelid for a much longer period of time than styes.

Most styes will heal within one week and very rarely last for more than a month, whereas a chalazion can last for many months and sometimes even years.

Chalazia Don’t Hurt

Whereas a stye can be quite painful, a chalazion doesn’t usually cause very much pain at all. That’s not to say that you won’t be able to feel it – having a lump on your eyelid, which is pressing down on your eyeball can be most uncomfortable – but they do not cause any sharp pains or soreness.

Chalazia Are Often Bigger and Harder

Although every case is different, on the whole chalazia tend to be larger in diameter and harder than styes.

They also tend to develop somewhere in the middle of the eyelid, whereas styes tend to be a lot closer to the eyelashes or water-line.

Chalazia Vs Styes Pictures

Chalazion on the upper eyelid

Chalazion on lower eyelid (after surgical incision)

External Stye on Upper Eyelid

Internal Stye on Lower Eyelid

I found this great video on YouTube, which shows you how to make a warm compress.

It’s a little different to how I explain it on my getting rid of styes page because they lie down and place the warm compress on their eye, letting gravity do the work instead of holding it in place – an awesome alternative technique I think

And the kid in the video is super cute –

As well as being the most effective method of getting rid of a stye, the warm compress is really easy to do – actually, as you’ve just witnessed, it’s child’s play

Danny

Styes can vary in size from almost unnoticeable to quite large.

They can also develop on both the inside and outside of the eyelid (internal and external styes) and the amount of swelling and inflammation is different each time.

So, I thought it be useful to show you a few different photographs of styes so that you can get an idea of their variations.

NOTE: Click here for advice on how to get rid of your stye fast.

Swollen Eye Stye

This guy’s stye is quite inflamed, making in difficult for him to open his right eye.

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Internal Stye on Lower Eyelid

This is an example of an internal stye. As you can see, it is on the inside of the eyelid and can only be seen if the eyelid is pulled down.

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External Stye on Upper Eyelid

This is a picture of an external stye. The stye is on the upper eyelid and the head points outwards. External styes generally have a more prominent whitish/yellowish head that looks similar to a pimple (however, under no circumstances should you try to pop it).

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Inflamed Stye on Upper Eyelid

Like the first photograph, this stye is quite swollen and the person is finding it diffcult to open their eyelid.

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If you have any stye pictures, please send them to dan@get-rid.org and I’ll publish them on this page

Danny

A question I’m often asked by people that are scheduled to have a stye removed surgically is ‘does it hurt?’.

And I can understand why they may be worried about a stye being literally cut out of their eyelid.

The eyes are very sensitive organs and the very thought of a sharp object coming into close contact with them is quite frightening and often results in a shudder.

The good news is that the surgical procedure itself is completely painless because your doctor or ophthalmologist (a doctor specialising in eyes and vision) will inject your eyelid with a local anaesthetic before the stye is removed.

This will numb your eyelid and remove all feeling from the area where the doctor will be operating as well as preventing you from making any sudden movements due to pain during the procedure.

You will feel a small prick as the anaesthetic is injected followed by a slight discomfort but the area will soon become numb.

When removing a stye from an infant or child, the doctor may recommend a general anaesthetic, which will put them to sleep during the procedure. Again this will help prevent any sudden movements during the operation.

After the anaesthetic is injected and working, the doctor will usually attach a clamp to the eyelid to hold it in place whilst they make a small incision and cut out the stye.

The incision will bleed and the doctor will soak up the blood with a cotton swab and may apply a suture (stitches) to the wound to help it heal.

A bandage is often applied to the eyelid to help control the blood flow.

The eyelid will be sore for a few days afterwards and your doctor may recommend changing the dressing periodically.

From an ophthalmologists point of view, stye removal is a quick and simple procedure and leaves hardly any visible scarring on the eyelid.

I hope this reassures you somewhat before you go for stye surgery – it’s quick and relatively painless and within a week it will be as though you never had a stye.

Dan

A possible stye remedy that you may have heard of is what I like to call ‘The Gold Trick’.

This is an old-fashioned method of getting rid of styes that dates back hundreds of years and involves rubbing gold against the stye periodically throughout the day (or 2 days, or 3 days, depending on where you heard about it).

I call it ‘The Gold Trick‘ because in my experience (and the experience of many others, I hasten to add) it just doesn’t work.

It is utter poppycock!

In addition, there is no scientific evidence of this being a bona-fide stye treatment and I know of no medical professional that recommends this course of action.

Nevertheless, there are a great many people that swear by this stye remedy and will happily recommend it to anyone that listens.

So the choice is yours – give it a try if you like but I doubt you will have any success with it

Find out real methods of getting rid of styes fast here.

Danny

P.S. If you have had success using this method, please let me know in the comments box below.

If you have a stye and are thinking about popping it, my advice to you is ‘don’t do it!‘

In my article about how to get rid of styes, I mention that popping a stye is a very bad idea and I thought I’d take a few moments to explain exactly why this is.

There are three fundamental reasons why you shouldn’t attempt to squeeze the pus out of a stye:

1. The pain is excruciating (I know from experience)
2. It allows the infection to spread to other follicles/glands
3. You could inadvertently damage the skin and other tissue on and around your eyelid and leave scarring.

I know how alluring it can be to pop a stye with your fingers, especially those that have a big white head that’s screaming to be squeezed but you must resist the temptation because it can actually prolong the discomfort.

I popped a stye myself and it although it resulted in getting rid of the stye, the follicle that the stye was in became infected with some other bacteria, which resulted in a different kind of soreness and (to compound matters) I got a second stye in an adjacent follicle.

This resulted in about a month of eye agony and it only shifted after a course of antibiotics from my doctor.

So, for anyone that asks ‘can I pop a stye?’, my advice is simply ‘don’t do it!‘.

Dan

I thought it would be useful to write a post about the various words that are used to describe styes throughout this website and commonly used spellings/misspellings.

First of all, although stye is pronounced the same as sty, the correct spelling is the former. I’ve also seen people use stie as well. Although the correct way to spell it is S-T-Y-E, if you use any of the other variations, I’m sure most folk will know what you’re talking about

Another word for a stye is hordeolum. In fact this is the term that many medical professionals use to describe the infection.

Another term you may hear is chalazion (or chalazia in it’s plural form). Although very similar to a stye a chalazion is a different type of infection of the eyelid that causes a lump that is often bigger than a stye, painless and lasts much longer.

Finally, there is another eye disease called blepharitis that causes sore eyes that are more vulnerable to infection. Many blepharitis sufferers are prone to getting recurring styes or chalazia because of the underlying disease.

Hopefully this will clear up any confusion about the terminology used on this website - click here for a list of ways to get rid of styes.

Dan