keeping your child seeing clearly

The Styes Have It: How To Treat Eye Styes At Home

If you have a reddish bump on the inside or outside eyelid, it could an eye stye, caused by a bacteria called staphloccocal. You may experience difficulty blinking or watering eyes, but styes aren't commonly harmful to your vision. They often go away on their own with treatment in several days. When eye styes seem to linger, here are some home remedies you can try.

Apply a Warm Compress

Applying a warm compress four to six times daily for about fifteen minutes helps reduce swelling, and pus. Dampen a wash cloth in very warm water, and place it on the infected area. Try the compress on your skin first to ensure it isn't too hot. Keep your eyes closed.

As an alternative, use a warm green tea bag. Green tea is known for its antibacterial properties. Boil a tea bag for each eye, then let it cool to a comfortable temperature. Leave the bag on the eye for around ten minutes.

Don't Strain Your Eyes

Styes don't generally cause vision issues as mentioned earlier, but you still don't want to strain your eyes. The extra strain could make the discomfort last longer. Take periodic breaks when you do things that require a great deal of eye use, such as reading or working on computers.

Getting the proper amount of sleep is important, since sleep releases proteins called cytokines that help fight infections.

Clean the Eyes with Baby Shampoo

Clean the eyelids with a tear-free baby shampoo to help with drainage. Mix several drops of baby shampoo with warm water, and use a cotton swab or rag to apply it on the eye lids. Keep the eyes closed while you clean them.

Avoid Further Irritation

• Remove your contact lenses when you have a stye and change to glasses, since the bacteria could transfer to contacts, which may spread to the cornea. After the stye heals, wear a new pair of contacts.
• Avoid wearing eye makeup until the styes heal. If you have a stye on one eye, bacteria from makeup applicators may get transferred to the other eye.
• After you get rid of the styes, toss eye make-up more than three months old. Old makeup is a breeding ground for bacteria.
• Wash your hands before touching your eyes.
• Avoid popping the stye. It may be tempting to pop a stye, but you will only spread the bacteria further.

These home treatments should help heal eye styes. If the styes don't heal after one week, or you experience sensitivity to light, or other vision problems, visit your eye doctor like one from Vision Eyeland Super Optical LLC.