Eye inflammation
Stye on the eyelid — warmth helps, squeezing harms
A stye comes up overnight: a red, tender spot on the eyelid margin that throbs the next day and makes the whole eyelid swell. It is an acute bacterial inflammation of a small eyelid gland — unpleasant, but as a rule harmless. What is decisive is what you do and what you do not do.
What a stye is
A stye — medically Hordeolum — is an acute bacterial inflammation of one of the small glands on the eyelid. Staphylococci are usually involved, bacteria that live on the skin anyway. If the duct of a gland becomes blocked, the secretion backs up, the bacteria multiply, and within one to two days a painful, pus-filled lump forms. A stye thus belongs among the inflammations of the eye and the eyelids.
Two variants are distinguished, depending on which gland is affected:
- Hordeolum externum — the more common form. The glands of Zeis or Moll directly at the root of the eyelash are affected. The lump sits on the outside of the eyelid margin and is clearly visible.
- Hordeolum internum — a meibomian gland inside the eyelid is affected. The lump sits deeper, the whole eyelid swells more, and the symptoms often last longer.
A stye is a condition of the eyelid, not of the eyeball. Vision stays normal. That is also precisely the reassuring feature: anyone whose vision is worse does not have a pure stye problem.
'Urseli', 'Ürseli', stye — the same thing
In everyday speech in Switzerland a stye is often called 'Urseli' or 'Ürseli', particularly in the Bern region and in central Switzerland. If you come to us with 'Ürseli am Auge' and we write 'Hordeolum' in the report, it is the same thing — once in dialect and once in Latin. For completeness: 'Urseli' is not a conjunctivitis, even though both make the eye red. One is a lump on the eyelid, the other an inflammation of the mucous membrane over the white of the eye.
Symptoms on the eyelid
- A well-defined red lump on the eyelid margin, often with a yellowish dot in the centre
- Marked tenderness to pressure — that is the cardinal symptom
- Swelling of the eyelid, sometimes so pronounced that the eye can barely be opened
- A foreign-body sensation, watering, slight redness of the white of the eye
- After a few days spontaneous emptying of pus, then rapid relief
The course is typical: it gets worse for two to three days, then the lump opens on its own, and within a week to ten days the matter is usually over.
How it develops — and why it comes back
The trigger is a blocked gland duct. What makes it more likely:
- a Eyelid margin inflammation (blepharitis) or a disorder of the meibomian glands — by far the commonest background to recurring styes
- dry eyes and chronically irritated eyelid margins
- Eye make-up, particularly eyeliner directly on the lash line, and old products
- Contact lenses and frequent rubbing of the eyes
- general factors such as diabetes or weakened immune defences
Anyone who has a stye three times a year is not unlucky but usually has an untreated eyelid margin. In that case we treat not the lump but the cause.
What you can do yourself
- Warmth, several times a day. A warm, not hot compress or a warming mask for around ten minutes, three to four times a day. Warmth liquefies the congested secretion and helps the lump to empty itself. That is the most effective measure there is — and it costs nothing.
- Eyelid margin hygiene afterwards. Clean the eyelid margin along the lash line gently with a clean, damp cloth or an eyelid-cleaning product. Do not scrub.
- Wash your hands before and after every touch. The pathogen travels easily to the other eye.
- Pause make-up and contact lenses, until everything has settled. Replace eye make-up used during the episode afterwards.
- No draughts, no steam experiments. Steam baths over hot water bring no benefit and carry a risk of scalding.
What you had better leave alone
Do not press or squeeze it. That is the most important sentence on this page. Squeezing forces pathogens into the surrounding tissue and can turn a harmless stye into an extensive inflammation of the eyelid. 'Lancing' it with a needle has no place in a home medicine cabinet either.
Equally superfluous: leftover antibiotic ointment from the cupboard, drawing ointments without a doctor's recommendation, and home remedies such as onion or camomile compresses. Camomile is a common contact allergen and irritates further.
When you should call us
Call us the same day if any of these applies:
- Fever or a pronounced feeling of being unwell
- Redness and swelling that spread beyond the eyelid onto the cheek or the bridge of the nose
- Pain on eye movements, double vision or a protruding eye
- Worsening vision
- a lump in babies and toddlers
The last three points can indicate an inflammation of the eye socket (orbital cellulitis) — rare, but a genuine emergency that is treated as an inpatient. Do not wait in that situation.
Also sensible, but without urgency: an appointment if the lump is still unchanged after two weeks, if styes keep occurring or if the same spot on the eyelid is affected more than once.
+41 44 500 69 00, Mon–Fri 08:00–12:00 / 13:00–17:30.
How we treat it
Usually not at all — and that is the right decision, not the comfortable one. The great majority of styes empty on their own with consistent application of warmth.
If more is needed after all:
- Antibiotic eye ointment or drops where the finding is pronounced or there is a threat of spread — prescribed by a doctor and for a limited time, not to keep in reserve.
- Opening (incision) of a lump that does not empty despite warmth and is under marked tension: a short outpatient procedure under local anaesthetic.
- Treating the cause where episodes recur: consistent eyelid margin hygiene, treatment of blepharitis or of dry eye. That is unspectacular and works better than any further ointment.
- Tissue examination, if a lump on the eyelid looks unusual, keeps coming back in the same place or eyelashes fall out in that area. Not every lump on the eyelid is a stye.
Assessment and treatment are medical services; where there is a medical indication the cost is covered by basic health insurance (OKP). Deductible and co-payment apply as at any doctor's appointment.
Stye or chalazion — the difference
Both are lumps on the eyelid, and the two are constantly confused. The difference is easy to recognise in everyday life:
| Stye (hordeolum) | Chalazion | |
|---|---|---|
| Onset | acute, over one to two days | gradual, over weeks |
| Pain | markedly tender to pressure | usually painless |
| Cause | bacterial inflammation | chronic build-up of secretion without a pathogen |
| Sensation | hot, tense, throbbing | firm, mobile lump |
| Progression | usually empties within days | often stays for weeks to months |
A stye can turn into a chalazion if the pus does not empty completely: the body walls off the rest, and a firm, painless lump is left behind. The treatment then changes.
Related topics
Related conditions
Medically reviewed by PD Dr. med. Andrea von Rückmann · Last reviewed
Frequently asked questions
- As a rule about a week to ten days. Typically it gets worse for two to three days, then the pus empties on its own and the symptoms subside quickly. Consistent application of warmth shortens this course noticeably. If the lump is still unchanged after two weeks, or has become firm and painless, it is usually no longer a stye but a chalazion.
- Only to a limited extent. The bacteria involved live on almost everyone's skin anyway; transmission from person to person, as with viral conjunctivitis, does not take place. You can, however, carry the pathogen to the other eye with your fingers. So: wash your hands, use your own towel, do not rub, do not share eye make-up.
- No. Squeezing forces bacteria into the surrounding eyelid tissue and can turn a limited inflammation into an extensive one — in an unfavourable case as far as the eye socket. A stye empties itself under warmth; if it has not done so after some days, we open it under local anaesthetic, cleanly and in a controlled way. That takes a few minutes and is the distinctly better route.
- Warmth, and regularly rather than once thoroughly: a warm compress or warming mask for around ten minutes, three to four times a day, then gentle cleaning of the eyelid margin. Everything else — ointments, drops, home remedies — is either for a doctor to decide or without proven benefit. Anyone who applies the warmth consistently shortens the course more than with any over-the-counter preparation from the pharmacy.
- Usually a chronically inflamed eyelid margin is behind it: a blepharitis or a disorder of the meibomian glands, often together with dry eyes. As long as the glands stay blocked, the eyelid margin keeps providing new opportunities. That is why in these cases we treat not the individual lump but the eyelid margin — with daily eyelid margin hygiene and, where necessary, medical treatment. Previously unrecognised diabetes can also play a part.
- Not necessarily. A typical stye without warning signs you may treat with warmth for a few days. You should see a doctor immediately with fever, with redness that spreads beyond the eyelid, with pain on moving the eye, with double vision or worsening vision — and with babies, always. Without urgency, but sensible, is an appointment if the lump stays after two weeks or keeps coming back.
Warmth first — and with warning signs, call at once.
Fever, redness that spreads beyond the eyelid, pain on moving the eye: describe that to us on the phone. We will tell you whether you should come in today.
+41 44 500 69 00 — Mon–Fri 08:00–12:00 / 13:00–17:30. Or book an appointment online.