chalazia

Are there home treatments that can help styes or chalazia?

Are there medicines that can be used to treat styes or chalazia?

Home treatment is all that is needed for most styes and chalazia.

Larger chalazia are removed through an incision in front of the eyelid.

Relatively small chalazia are removed through a small cut at the back of the eyelid.

Styes and chalazia are lumps in or along the edge of an eyelid.

What increases the risk of styes and chalazia?

In some affected individuals, chalazia may disappear spontaneously.

So surgery should be considered only as a last resort, performed on as few as 5% of all chalazia patients.

Styes and chalazia may be related to blepharitis, a common problem that causes inflammation of the eyelids.

If you get styes or chalazia often, wash your eyelids regularly with a little bit of baby shampoo mixed in warm water.

Recurring chalazia in the same area may sometimes be a symptom of sebaceous cell carcinoma, albeit rarely.

Similarly, chalazia may recur once the eye is predisposed and surgical intervention each time is not possible.

Larger chalazia usually push on the skin of the eyelid and this is the main reason why doctors prefer removing them this way.

Although chalazia are rarely dangerous, it is common to send the chalazion or part of it to a laboratory to screen for cancer.

What are styes and chalazia?

Can styes and chalazia be prevented?

A chalazion (plural: chalazia) is an inflammation of the deep oil glands inside the eyelid.

Unlike styes, chalazia often don't hurt.

To help prevent styes and chalazia:

Learning about styes and chalazia:

Follow the links below to find WebMD's comprehensive coverage about chalazia, what they look like, when to be concerned, and much more.

Styes are similar to chalazia, but tend to be of smaller size and are more painful and usually produce no lasting damage.

They may become acutely inflamed but, unlike a stye, chalazia usually point inside the lid rather than on the lid margin.

For more information, go to the topics Styes and Chalazia or Eyelid Problems (Blepharitis).