What is Chalazion
A chalazion is a small lump that occurs suddenly on the eyelids, and it’s a kind of infection, in most cases, it does not cause pain.
The lump on the eyelids is called a chalazion, it develops when your meibomian gland at the edge of your eyelid becomes blocked. The oil is produced by the meibomian glands and because of this, the surface of the human eye gets lubricated.
In most cases you do not even take medicines and chalazion gets cured on its own.
In this article, we are going to read about the symptoms of a chalazion and the differences between a chalazion and a stye. We’ve also described, home treatment, causes and when to see a doctor, prevention, and surgery.
Symptoms
In the beginning when a chalazion will start occurring so it will appear as a small, red, and sometimes inflamed area of the eyelid.
A few days later, this inflammation will start developing into a painless and slow-growing lump.
A chalazion can appear on your upper or lower eyelid, but most commonly it appears on the upper lid.
As we’ve already told you that Chalazion is painless, but due to this your eye can become watery and mildly irritated.
Besides a large chalazion can press on the eyeball, which will lead you to blurry vision.
Chalazion vs stye
I’ve seen many people who get confused about chalazion and stye because both have similarities in appearance. For example, A stye is also a small lump just like chalazion and it also develops in the eye area.
You should remember that a chalazion is a result of a blocked oil gland, but stye indicates an infected oil gland or sometimes hair follicle. In some cases, a chalazion can also develop into a stye.
Let’s know about Stye and they are of two types:
- External hordeolum: It occurs at the base of your eyelash and usually happens due to an infection in the hair follicle.
- Internal hordeolum: It occurs inside your eyelid and happens due to an infection in an oil gland.
The most common difference between a stye and a chalazion is that Chalazion is mainly painless, while a stye is quite painful and it can cause the eye to feel sore and scratchy.
Other symptoms of a stye
- Swelling in eyelid
- The pimple containing pus, or a normal small pimple
- Crustiness on eyelid’s edge, or sensitivity to light
- Watery eye
Most times, stye increase in size for around 3 days, and after that pus begins to drain. And stye takes around 1 week to heal.
Chalazion treatment
Sometimes chalazion requires very little medical treatment otherwise it gets to heal naturally.
But keep in mind, It’s very important to avoid squeezing or popping your chalazion because it can increase the risk of an eye infection.
Although there are many safe ways to promote drainage and speed up the healing process.
Warm compresses
Warm compresses on the eyes affected by this disease help to soften the hard oil blocking the glandular ducts. By doing so, your ducts will be open and drain more effectively, which will relieve irritation.
How to do warm compress
- Clean your hand.
- Take a clean cloth or a cotton pad.
- Soak that cloth or pad in warm water.
- After soaking the cloth in warm water, squeeze out some of its water.
- Now apply that cloth or pad to the eyelid for at least 10 to 15 minutes.
- Do this process until the water does not cool down.
- Repeat this process several times a day until your swelling goes down.
Know about: Cataract
Gentle massage
Gently massaging your eyelids for few minutes every day will help the oil ducts drain more effectively.
Before doing this make sure that your hands must be clean otherwise they can increase the risk of infection.
When your chalazion starts to drain so always keep the area clean and do not touch it with bare hands.
Things to avoid
To prevent irritation or infarction, It would be great to avoid wearing eye makeup or contact lenses unless you recover from this disease.
When to see a doctor
If you’ve realized that the lumps have started forming on your eyelids, and you’re doing warm compresses but it’s not benefiting you, then definitely go to the doctor, he may give you any eye drops or cream to use.
If you do not get any benefit from eye drop, then the doctor may advise you for an injection.
Diagnosis of lumps on the eyelids
Although no special test is required to diagnose Chalazion because the doctor can detect this disease just by looking at your eyes.
However, the doctor may ask you some questions like whether there is pain or itching around your eyes, and after that, he will decide whether you have lumps or Blepharitis.