A stye is a small pus-filled bump on the edge of the eyelid. Caused by an infection of the sweat glands or eyelash hair follicles in the eyelid, sties are characterized by redness and slight swelling around a small round bump no larger than the average pimple. They can be painful, especially if they are on the inner edge of the eyelid so your eye touches them, and last up to 10 days. Other symptoms include tenderness to touching, blurry vision, a scratchy feeling like you have something in your eye, light sensitivity and pain while blinking.

Sties are especially common amongst infants, but can affect people of all ages. They are contagious; sharing a washcloth you used on an eye with a stye in it can give other users of that same cloth sties as well. Because they are filled with pus, sties can be drained; this is usually only done if the stye is particularly irritating or painful. It is strongly discouraged to poke the stye with a needle, pinch it or try to drain it in any other way; if the pus that drains out gets into your eye, it can cause a serious bacterial infection in not only your eye, but the surrounding tissue of your face as well.

Unlike their larger cystic cousins, chalazions, sties usually resolve themselves at home and do not require going to the doctor. Natural treatments include putting a hot compress on the affected eye for 15 minutes four to six times per day, and to thoroughly cleanse the eye when the bump does rupture so that the pus doesn’t cause an eye infection. Using a hot compress for even 2 minutes per day can help to prevent sties from developing, softening the oils in the pores around the edges of the eyelids and thus preventing them from becoming blocked up and forming sties.

Heated black tea bags gently held against the eyelids make an even more effective compress, because the tannic acid in the tea works as a natural antibacterial agent, killing the germs responsible for the sty and helping it to resolve itself faster.

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