Any Advice on Treating a Stye That Will Not Go Away??

Updated on January 31, 2011
P.B. asks from San Ramon, CA
15 answers

My 3 year old son has had a Stye for over 3 months. We have tried Drops, ointments, warm compress...nothing is working. We saw an Opthamologist and she is recommending surgery. I really want to avoid this. Any suggestions or advice??

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A.P.

answers from San Francisco on

Haaving gone through this in high school, I had the problem of the styes coming on continually for about 6 months. The thing that I found helped the most was to use lipton tea bags for the hot compress. There is something in the tea that helps draw out the infection. Surgery sounds too radical, unless it is a cyst and not a stye. Also, check with the people at Apple Health Foods in Redwood City - they are very knowledgable about all sorts of things.
A. Papangellin

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C.M.

answers from San Francisco on

i was told using a gold ring and rubbing it from the inner eye outward,something that is in the gold that works

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T.V.

answers from San Francisco on

Dear P.,

After 3 months, the stye needs to be lanced. A 3 year old can't stay still while a doctor is poking around their little eye (most grownups can't, but can deal with a local), so the doc will need to give him a little anesthetic to help him relax. As your doctor has probably explained, this is a simple procedure and will only take a few minutes. His eye will be better in not time.

Blessings....

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M.J.

answers from Houston on

Im going throught the EXACT same thing with my 4 year old son right now. He has had this stye for 3 months and we have done everything reccomended and an Opthamologist said the same thing. Im just curious if you went through with the surgery or did it go away on its own?

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L.M.

answers from San Francisco on

My son had one that lasted over a year. Went to the pediatrician, an opthmologist, and tried the drops, hot compresses, etc. At one point it developed "a head" like a pimple and ruptured after several hot compresses, but only drained a little bit. I could see a hard substance wanted to come out, but my son wouldn't let me give it a little push. It healed over and lasted several more months when it came to a head again. This time we did the hot compress route again and he put up with my gently pulling his eyelid until the hard plug came out. I'd see what you can do if it gets to this point. If he'll tolerate your trying to clear it out. Don't force it. The doctor wanted to lance it but my mother has had several bad styes that the doctor lanced and the scar tissue resulting from them has caused her nothing but trouble. As for the hot compresses, my I tried a hot tea bag (Lipton). I don't know if it is an old wive's tale, but something about the tannins in the tea is supposed to do something. My son developed this from rubbing his eyes due to hayfever and bacteria got in some pore. Good luck.

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S.B.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi P.,

I'll agree with the mother who said 3 months is nothing! Our eye specialist said that too about our son's stye. The trouble is.....we can't put a warm compress on him long enough to get quicker results. Instead we just waited it out and it did eventually go away, but this has been going on since August, 5 months. If you can avoid the procedure, I would, no need to put your child under unless it's effecting his eye sight.

S.

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A.S.

answers from Redding on

Rub it with a clean, gold ring. Not sure why it works, but it does.

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K.P.

answers from San Francisco on

I have seen the gold ring trick work too. Rub the ring on your palm until it gets quite warm and then press it on the sty. Repeat this several times. I know it sounds crazy and I don't know why or how it works, but I've seen it myself.

Besides, it's free and it's safer than surgery...

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L.G.

answers from San Francisco on

Put anti-bacterial ointment on his eye before he goes to bed, right on the stye. He will be asleep, so he won't rub it, and it does not sting.

I recently had a stye. After one day of the ointment it was almost gone, day 2 only a red spot, day 3 completely gone. I just got the ointment out of the medicine cabinet at work, but any anti-bacterial oinment should do.

Best wishes.

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M.C.

answers from San Francisco on

We used to use a boric acid wash. Try searching "stye boric acid" on the internet and I'm sure you'll find some info.

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M.E.

answers from San Francisco on

Not sure if this will help, but when my daughter had one, her dr. said to lay off the milk/dairy. Maybe if your son has a lot of dairy you could go easy on it for a while and see if it goes away.
Best of luck.
M.

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G.B.

answers from Boise on

boric acid- the same stuff used in boraxo laundry detg. as an eye wash with water
or tea tree oil and macadamia nut oil mixed in equal parts together.

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G.A.

answers from San Francisco on

When my duaghter was about 3 she also had a sty that lasted forever, about 6 or 7 months! It was rather a big one to. We saw her regular doctor, then a dermatologist, who took a biopsy, and an eye doctor. The eye doctor said it wasn't any thing to worry about.The biopsy didn't cause any alarm, and so, our dermatologist just kept an eye on it with visits to him every other month, and it finaly went away on its own!
Oh! Nothing worked for her either, creams, warm compress....

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S.R.

answers from Sacramento on

This webpage is loaded with tons of natural remedies to clear up a stye.

http://www.earthclinic.com/CURES/sty.html

Hope something works.

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D.A.

answers from San Francisco on

I had hundreds of styes when I was a little girl. We tried every remedy the doctors suggested and every home remedy. UNTIL...........one woman told us to gently rub castor oil on the stye. We started doing that, and the styes went away. If I had what looked like the beginnings of a stye, I applied a little castor oil to the spot, and the stye never appeared. Many years later, I woke up one morning with a stye, immediately applied castor oil, and the stye disappeared within an hour.

I can't guarantee that this will work for your son, but it is certainly worth a try. It ended my styes, and I am very grateful!!!!!!!!! Good luck.

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