As you can see from the above photo, the stye is on my lower eyelid. This photo was taken 4 days after initial infection . As you can see, it's pretty big, and VERY swollen. I've never had a stye before, so I had nothing to compare to. It was more than annoying, and quite painful. But before I get further into the rest of my experience, let's start with how it all started...
What's a stye?
A stye is basically an infection when bacteria gets inside one of the oil glands in your eyelid. The bacteria can be transfer from your hand (ie: when you touch your nose and then touch your eye). It can also be caused by not washing off all of your eye makeup before going to bed. Very similar to a pimple, but this is definitely NOT something you want to try to pop on your own.
How Did I Get One?
For the last 5 weeks, I've been working a Halloween event that runs Thursday through Sunday, and required me to be there for about 13 hours. I'd only get about 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night. Naturally, sleep deprivation set in. I was exhausted by the time I got home, and was in a hurry to body slam myself into my bed in order to get as much sleep as possible. My usual face wash routine was out the window, and I shortcut in order to get to bed faster. I definitely wasn't getting all of my make up off. That's the 1st culprit.
I also worked around a lot of fog. I mean A LOT of it. It messed with my eyes and I had to stop wearing my contacts because it dried my eyes out. Because of this, I was touching my eyes more frequently. This was culprit #2.
Add sleep deprivation and having a cold on top of that... there you have it. STYE!
Oh No! I've Got A Stye!
I noticed some tenderness on my lower lashline on Sunday. When I looked in the mirror, I noticed a red bump. It was pretty small at the time, so I cleaned it with some baby shampoo and didn't wear any makeup the next day. By Wednesday (3 days later), it was so painful and uncomfortable that I ended up going to an Urgent Care. The doctor took a look and prescribed an antibiotic ointment, and told me to do warm compression on my eye for about 15 to 20 minutes, 4 to 6 times a day.
So off to the store I go! I picked up the ointment, and also got some extras:
- 2x2 gauze for cleaning
- Stye© Eye Therapy Warming Compress
- Similansan Stye Eye Relief Eye Drop
How I Took Care Of My Stye
What you should NOT do, is try to touch, pop, or mess with the stye. It may irritate it more, or spread it to other parts of your eye. So keep your hands clean, and keep your hands away from your eye, lol!
When you have a stye, warm compression is going to be your BEST FRIEND. I found this on so many different websites when I started to google styes, and it truly works. Many website said to take a towel or paper towel, dip it in warm water, wring it out, and place it on your eye. When the towel got cold, just dip it back into the warm water and repeat (about 15 to 20 minutes). While this was a great tip, I found that the towel method tedious. The towel would get cool pretty quick and I felt like I was spending more time warming up the towel than using it on my eye.
This is where that Stye Eye Therapy Warming Compress came in. It's like a mini heat pad for your eye! I used it once, and it felt great. Then I put it back in the microwave (following the direction to a T). and THIS HAPPENED!
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| This thing popped the 2nd time I put it back in the microwave =( |
Yea... it popped!!! I was so mad was this happened. The clean up took forever... hose little blue beads were all over the microwave.
So I went back to the store and got THIS instead:
I LOVE the Bausch + Lomb TheraPearl Eye Mask. It still heats up in the microwave, but it hasn't popped, and also can be used for a cold compress.
I would do a warm compress with this eye mask for about 20 minutes, wait about an hour, and do it again, while applying the ointment about twice a day.
By the time I woke up on Thursday, my stye has "come to a head". In another word, it was starting to drain itself. I was still scheduled to work at the Halloween event that day, so I went to work against my better judgement. I was in so much pain at work, that I ended up coming home.
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| The stye started to "come to a head", starting to drain |
Once I got home, I continued with warm compress/ointment routine, and rinsing my eye after each warm compress to get all the grossness cleaned out (that's what I used the gauze for).
The next day, the stye has started to go down, and I was able to go back to work.
It's been about 2 weeks, and my eye is pretty much back to normal. I'm still kind of afraid to put any kind of eye makeup on. I've also refrained from wearing my contact lenses (I threw my old ones out).
And there you have it -- my personal stye encounter. Have you had a stye before? How did you deal with it, and what tricks did you use in healing it?
-Wendy
This is awesome. I'm dealing with a pesky stye at the moment and your review of the warm compress brought me here. I'm glad I came across your post because it gave me more confidence to beat this thing! Thank you.
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