For those who have children, one thing you probably didn’t realize during the first few months of pregnancy was just how much of a medical education you were about to receive, and not just during the pregnancy, although that is also an eye opener the first time around.
Well Known Symptoms
The real fun begins once mother and baby arrive home. It’s a handful from the beginning and seems to peak between five and seven years later. Anything and everything, from broken bones to chicken pox to strep throat is going to come marching through the back door. The scariest part of all this is that you’ll be able to recognize the symptoms, and find the appropriate medication, in no time flat.
Some of the more interesting, and disgusting, medical adventures involve the eyes, and it’s not just limited to children either. Two of the more common issues are a stye and a condition called chalazia, which results in the formation of a chalazion.
Both of these issues involve a lump on or under the eyelid and it can be difficult to tell them apart. Here are some tips for recognizing each and more importantly, what to do.
Unique Characteristics
There are two main distinguishing characteristics common to each condition, pain and location. A stye is almost always somewhat painful, and can be very painful in some cases, while chalazion typically is not.
Styes also occur closer to the edge of the eyelid than a chalazion and are reddish in color. A stye is an actual infection of a lash follicle and a chalazion occurs when an oil gland in the eye becomes plugged and excess oil causes the swelling. A chalazion is usually larger than a stye.
In the vast majority of cases, either condition can be treated with warm water to clean the affected area, repeated several times a day. A warm compress can also be used if it is more convenient. If the stye doesn’t respond to frequent cleaning or if the chalazion becomes infected, then an antibiotic ointment will usually be prescribed for topical application.
Eye makeup and or contact lenses should not be used until the condition is resolved. Another ‘don’t’ is trying to pop a stye like it is a pimple, this will only spread the infection and make things worse.
Impact of Treatment
Now the bad news, in some rare cases these conditions may not respond to these treatments and may have to be drained by a doctor. This is usually performed as an outpatient procedure, but driving home is obviously out of the question. Another piece of bad news is that once you get one, you are much more likely to develop a second or third one.
The biggest cause of styes is the introduction of bacteria to the eye and chalazia is often traced to not fully removing eye makeup, so keep ‘em both clean.