What Causes an Eye Stye & How to Treat Them

Ouch! What’s that? My eyelid is sore… there’s a bump there… that wasn’t there yesterday. HELP!!! 

Never fear, Superdrug Contact Lenses Online are here! Sounds like you have a stye. Never heard of it… well, let us fill you in on stye causes, stye treatment, and how to prevent them from reappearing!  

What Is a Stye? 

A stye is a small, red, painful lump anywhere on or inside of your lower eyelid, upper eyelid or even in the corner of eye. It will probably have a yellow spot on it, this is where the infection (pus) is.  

A stye can cause your entire eyelid to swell and become red and tender to the touch. It can cause your eye to become watery too, but a stye should not affect your vision.  

Having a stye may make you feel like you have something in your eye, or you may even have a scratchy feeling when blinking.  

Stye’s normally only affect one eye at a time; however, there is a possibility that you could have a couple of styes at the same time, and there are several places they could strike, including a stye on your upper eyelid, a stye on your lower eyelid and even a stye in the corner of an eye! 

Stye Causes

A stye is a common eye condition that is caused by a bacterial infection. You can be more prone to styes if you suffer from blepharitis.  

If you have a stye that is on your eyelid, it is most likely because the base of one of your eyelashes, the hair follicle, is infected. 

For a stye that is in your eyelid, be that in your lower eyelid, upper eyelid or even in the corner of your eye, one of the oil-producing glands inside your eyelid is probably infected.

Eye Stye Treatment

There is good news… eye stye treatment is straightforward and involves a touch of self-care. To help treat a stye at home and reduce the swelling, all you need to do is: –  

• Use a warm compress – using a clean flannel/cloth, warm with water and apply to your eye. Hold for approximately 10 minutes and repeat this between 3-5 times a day. Make sure to keep the compress warm by re-warming the cloth if needed with more warm water. 

• Use pain medication – If necessary, you can use pain relief medication to relieve the pain. 

• Contact lens wearers – Take them out – to help with the discomfort, avoid wearing your contact lenses and rely on your trusty pair of specs.  

• Make-Up – We would recommend that you avoid using make-up until the style has healed.  

There may be occasions where a stye does need a little help from a GP. If your stye does not get better with at-home eye stye treatments in a couple of weeks or is very painful and swollen, affecting your vision or if it looks like the infection is spreading – please visit your doctor as soon as possible.   

Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances attempt to burst a stye yourself. This can cause the infection to spread. 

How to Prevent a Stye

Styes aren’t always preventable, but good hygiene is key, so here are some of our top tips on how to prevent a stye: –  

DO

• Keep your eyelids and eyelashes clean – this is especially important if you have blepharitis. 

• Replace your make-up often. We recommend replacing your mascara every 3 months (and not sharing eye makeup with someone else!) 

• Remember to remove your eye makeup before bed – as tempting as it is to hit the hay straight after a good night out, give your peepers a clean. 

DO NOT

• Share towels/flannels with someone with a stye – same with make-up. 

• Touch or rub your eyes or put contact lenses in your eyes if you have not recently washed your hands. Get your hands washed, people! 

Not sure if it a stye you are suffering with? If your eye is red and watery and there is no lump, it could be that you are suffering from conjunctivitis. You can find out more about conjunctivitis by reading our conjunctivitis blog.