My Pet Chalazion

In My Humble Opinion
1

For those who don’t know, a chalazion is a tiny lump or cyst that forms in the upper or lower eyelid. I have one in my upper left eyelid. It’s not painful, it doesn’t really do anything except make it less comfortable to wear my contact lenses (in my left eye), and you can’t really notice it unless you are up close or are specifically looking for it. Apparently, mine formed due to an inflamed oil gland on the eyelid margin which is now no longer inflamed - but the chalazion is a “souvenir.” :rolleyes:
Nevertheless, it’s bloody annoying. It’s been there for a few months and is obviously not going to go away. I’ve been referred to an eyelid surgeon/opthalmologist who will apparently perform some uncomfortable, Clockwork Orange-like procedure to remove the chalazion. Fun fun fun!

Anyone know anything more about chalazions, or had a chalazion, or had this type of eyelid procedure done? Any input much appreciated!

2

I had one a few years ago. I went to the opthalomologist and he gave me an ointment to put on it. The main thing he recommended, though, and what I think was most effective, was hot compresses. He said essentially this was like a zit on the inside of your eyelid. Eventually it would drain and be gone. This is exactly what happened to me. I had the hot compress one day and when I took it off I noticed the lump was much smaller, almost gone in fact.

Good luck with it.

3

I haven’t had a chalazion but I have had pet pterygiums on each eye. They are right on the eyeball, usually in the corner. They are benign but they can cause irritation, one of mine was growing onto the cornea and they were always painful. so I had them removed. One eye at a time, of course. It was an in-office procedure and rather painless. The hard part was watching everything come at my eyeball and feeling things touch my eyeball. It hurt like hell after the anesthetics wore off, too.

But the good news is your chalazion is on your eyelid, not your eyeball. So it shouldn’t be too bad. :wink:

4

I’ve had the Clockwork Orange-esque procedure.

My father had a chalazion (is that how it’s spelled?) or two, and I had several in a row that went away on their own, so maybe I got congenitally small oil ducts or something. Anyway, back in about 97 my left upper eyelid got one about the size of a pea in it. The entire lid was constantly red and irritated, and it looked shockingly horrible, and I finally had to go to a doctor and pay him to remove it. (I was in grad school at the time and had no health insurance.) The gruesome details:

I had it done at one of those “minor medical” places. I lay down on my back and the doctor or a nurse or someone shot two shots of novocaine each into the upper and lower eyelids. I think this was the most hideous experience of my life (so far).

I lay there for about twenty minutes or so while the novocaine took effect, and then the doctor and an assistant or two came in and got busy. They put a clamp on my upper eyelid that pulled it all the way back, exposing the underside of the lid. This was of course to let them get at the chalazion. Then I think they put a clamp in there to hold the lower lid back, but I’m not sure about that. Either way, my left eye was propped open and unable to avoid looking straight up into the doctor’s face.

The doctor took a scalpel and just started scraping. He was conscientious about it, never letting me see what he was scraping out, but he was making occasional faces that let me know it was pretty bad. At one point I said something like, “Uh, how’s it going?” (I was mainly trying to show him I was tough, but I remember my voice sounding like I might have been crying.)

He answered, “Uh, just scarping a bunch of stuff out of there. It, uh, looks like cottage cheese.”

I didn’t ask him any more after that.

The surgery didn’t take very long, maybe ten to fifteen minutes at most. When it was done they put a bandage on my eye and told me to “be careful driving home.” I hadn’t thought to bring a friend to drive me, so I drove home with one eye. Don’t do this.

After that my eye cried blood tears for a few hours, which was actually kind of cool, and then I was fine. I did the hot-washcloth treatment regularly for a while, but I stopped after a while and I haven’t had any trouble since then, I don’t think.

Cost: About $75, as I recall, which seems like a bit of a bargain for even a minor surgical procedure. Maybe it was $175.

5

Oh shit, now I feel like throwing up. I am NOT a good patient, and I KNOW I’m not gonna like this.
My eyelid isn’t inflamed - it’s just got a little lump in it. Do you think I could just do the hot compress thing and wish the chalazion away? The problem is though, the hot compress/warm spoon on the eyelid didn’t work the first 50 times I tried it…
HELP!

6

It largely depends on what is inside of it. If there is mainly liquid, then the hot compresses are likely to do the job. Warmth and mosture seem to soften the skin holding it in and at the same time produce inflamation that causes gentl pressure to push the stuff out. If it is cottage cheese, not so much. Cottage cheese stuff does not usually come out of blemished on its own without added pressure and pressure is not a good thing here because that could lead to injuring the surrounding tissue and you could get an infection. Most places on the body, I would lance the sucker and squeeze. Even if it were on my own eye, I would not. The eyes are delicate. I would try the hot compresses and if it gets too bad, go to the doctor. I love to pick at zits, but I would not pick this kind.

I love the description of that procedure though.

7

I had a pea-sized lump on my eye for years and years and years. Luckly you couldn’t really see it except at odd angles and it didn’t hurt. Then, one day, I noticed it was gone.

8

I had a chalazion several years ago. I went through antibiotic treatment and hot compresses but the ophthalmologist finally said surgery was the only solution. He did the surgery during my lunch hour and then sent me home (I drove myself). I had a couple of stitches in my eyelid and also developed a huge black eye that took several weeks to go away. Apparently that was unusual. I have a very small scar on my eyelid now. I think that is about as bad as it gets.

My advice to you is try hot compresses and antibiotics first and keep your fingers away from it.

9

I had a tiny one at the bottom corner of my right eye for years and years. Every once in a while I’d try to pop it like a zit, but it hurt too much to give it a good squeeze that close to my eye. Finally, one day I rubbed it and it came off. It was like a tiny grain of sand. I have a little mark there, but that was it.

10

I had one, but I wasn’t going to post about it ‘til I read about jackelope’s. Mine was drained with a needle aspiration procedure. I thought it was pretty scary, until now! I was nicely but firmly held in my chair by a large person who did a lot of calm-sounding idle chitchat, and the doctor stuck a needle in my eyelid and drained the chalazion. Scared the everlovin’ shit out of me, but it wasn’t really that bad - took maybe two minutes.

11

That afternoon, my mom commented that she’d seen the strangest looking butterfly out in the garden.

12

Sorry for not replying sooner - thankyou for your Gruesome Eyelid stories! My appointment with the eyelid specialist is in 4 weeks’ time, and I’m not exactly sure I want to keep it. The problem is, I’ve been given conflicting advice by my doctors - one told me it only needs hot compress treatment, the other one referred me to the specialist and told me that hot compresses are useless as the chalazion is internal and has nowhere to drain to, or something. I don’t want to deal with an eye-patch, bruised eye, and so on, in early May because I may be starting a new job at that time. What do you think I should do?

13

I think you should go to your appointment. If the chalazion is deep without exit, then yes, the compresses are unlikely to work, but the exit is not always that visible. So keep your appointment, and keep up the compresses. It could help your chalazion to go away. The advice at numerous medical sites says to follow the hot compress with “light lid massage.”

14

I’ve had these several times, but always on the inside of a lower eyelid. The ‘cure’ has always been hot compresses four times a day, and a dab of salve before bed. I believe the salve was a prescription and is called Bacitracin Zinc and Polymyxin B Sulfate Opthalmic Ointment USP. This has always done it for me, luckily. The last time I had one (well over a year ago, I’m sure), I got weary of it quite quickly and decided to just ignore it. It stayed around for several months, but I just now noticed that it’s gone. Thank you!

15

Oh shit, the appointment for this is tomorrow.
I suppose I should just bite the bullet, so to speak, but scalpels + my eye = does not compute! :eek:
Maybe I should just get the eye guy to examine it just to make sure it’s not something more serious, and make some lame excuse as to why I can’t have the procedure tomorrow ("Um, I’m getting married on Wednesday…:crosses fingers behind back:)

16

had one of the little buggers removed less than a year ago.

i have rosacea. this apparently makes it more likely that styes will occur. styes are basically just pimples of the eyelid, pretty much around the lash-base area.

i suddenly developed a KILLER stye one day. hurt like hell, eyelid was all swollen. i mistakenly put cold compresses on it, just to try to reduce the inflammation. the pain died down, but i was left with a lump that made me look like i was growing a third eyeball. my regular eye doctor diagnosed it as a chalazion and gave me a recommendation to an eye specialist for removal.

had an initial consult, where he gave me a prescription for an antibiotic and some steroid-type ointment, with the additional call for frequent warm compresses. like others have said, if the little bugger has already solidified, compresses will NOT get it to drain. so maybe 10 days-2 weeks later, i went back for surgical removal.

they put a drape over my face so only the affected eye is exposed. (which also, thankfully, means the unaffected eye can’t see what’s going on.) the incision was to be on the underside of the lid, so there would be no apparent scarring. they gave me the shot for the local, waited to give it time to “take”, then started. basically, it was just grasping the eyelid and turning it back so the underside is exposed. (this was the upper eyelid BTW.) unfortunately, either they were slightly off in where they administered the shot, or they underestimated the amount needed to deaden the area. the doctor made the incision and began the scooping process. i told him in no uncertain terms that THIS HURTS. :eek: they administered some more local, waited a bit, then went back at it. a good bit of scraping (and what felt like squeezing) ensued. i’m not positive the doctor was sure he got everything out at the time, but apparently they did get a goodly helping of “stuff” as it was. i had to wear my glasses, and drove myself home. it felt for an hour or so like someone had slugged me in the eye. (not sure if that was the effect of the local, or all the manhandling of emptying the cyst.) but after about 24 hours i was back to wearing my contact lenses, and life was good once again. no particular swelling, no black eye that i can recall.

i’ve had a few styes crop up since then, and now reach for warm compresses instead of cold. i may have had another chalazion form in the lower lid of the opposite eye, but it doesn’t affect anything and isn’t particularly visible, so i’m ignoring it for now.

17

Ugh. I had exactly what jackelope described, twice, and it was horrid both times. I was about 10, I think. The first time I had the needle in my eyelid, I just kept saying “Take it out, take it out, take it out!” The second time, I knew what was coming, which was worse. When that needle went in, I screamed the entire time with all the power of my little lungs. Afterwards, no one in the room could hear. I wonder how many other patients I scared away?

Luckily, I haven’t had any major problems since then. I do have blepharitis and rosacea, though. I soak my eyes with hot water every morning and that keeps everything in check.

I hope it went well today!

18

So I never had a chlazion in my life until I ran out of eye makeup and started using Johnson’s baby soap as eye makeup remover. Do not do that!!! It’s pore clogging-especially pores in your eyes!! I quickly got about 10 chalazions. Stopped using Johnson’s baby soap (switched to Estée Lauder eye make up remover) No more Chalazions and the ones I had are basically gone.
So the chalazion culprit is JOHNSON’S BABY SOAP. A great product-but not for eyes!!!