What could be the cause of repeated styes?
Question
What causes an inflamed swelling on the eyelid to reoccur again and again? I suffer from frequent and painful styes. I regularly get a sty in both eyes, sometimes many at once. The styes are persistent and can last several months. Sometimes a sty comes to a head and ruptures, disappears, only to occur again.
What makes a sty happen again and again? What could be the cause of recurrent eye styes? This all started about 6 months ago. At fist they were sporadic and now they are continual. My general doctor said to put toothpaste on my eyelid. What? I tried that and it didn’t work.
Does anyone know what could be the cause of repeated styes?
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2 years
2021-01-08T18:56:21+00:00
2021-01-08T18:56:21+00:00 2 Answers
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Answers ( 2 )
If a stye occurs again several times, it may be a sign of a condition called blepharitis or acne rosacea. Blepharitis is inflammation of the eyelid. Often people refer to it as an internal stye.
It can be a temporary disorder in which the meibomian glands function abnormally. Dysfunctional meibomian glands lead to altered tear film composition.
Basically the tiny oil glands in your upper and lower eyelids provide key components to the tear film. When they function incorrectly, the secretions they produce is too viscous as opposed to being watery.
Subsequently, staphylococcus, a type of bacteria, gets trapped in the gland and infection forms. This type of infection is resistant to antibiotics but treatments do exist. Some eye care professionals use low-dose doxycycline hyclate as a remedy.
Doxycycline hyclate can rapidly restore tear film balance back to normal, or better. Normal tear film balance helps fight off infection and prevents a clogged gland.
You should not rely on a general physician for diagnosis. See a specialist. This is a very common issue that can often be avoided.
The root of the problem is meibomian gland dysfunction. Gland secretions become to thick and it triggers a stye to reoccur. I went though this several years ago. A very painful stye would occur and then go away, only to reappear again in a different eye or in a different spot.
My eye would become very swollen for several days. When the swelling resides I am left with what is called a chalazion, which is a painless lump at the base of an eyelash. Sometimes they go away in time but in other instances surgery is required.
My eye doctor recommended doxycycline hyclate. He prescribed me 100 mg capsules. He said when I feel a stye happening again to quickly start taking the medication—before swelling begins. I’ve never had another stye reshow. I’ve prevented each new stye.
I don’t get styes anymore. Whatever was causing my condition stopped happening. So it wasn’t a permanent condition for me. Maybe it was caused by hormonal changes or medication I was taking.