Socks full of rice are great when microwaved and used for heat therapy!
If this is an infection, yes, I’d dump the eyeliner and your mascara. If it’s not an infection, I wouldn’t, but that’s just me. I get occasional (like maybe every 2 years) styes and have pretty serious pollen allergies. BUT, that is just what I do and IANAD, etc.
You could call your doctor and ask what he thinks.
You also missed the first “h”… For future reference.
Hey guys, thanks for continuing to help! I used a warm compress a couple of times and am using one now. (Alas, I don’t have rice or a microwave. Bad timing as I just tossed out my old one and am shopping around for a replacement. Stupid question, though: that is uncooked rice, right? 
Because the image of filling a sock with wet rice is kinda cracking me up and feels more like a prank than a cure.)
Oddly, the swelling seems to have gone down somewhat since this a.m. When I woke up this morning my left eye looked about 75% the size of my right. (Admittedly that eye is usually a tiny bit smaller. Damn asymmetrical features!) But now I’d say it’s about 90%. Similarly, this morning it was noticeably awkward to open my eye, as I mentioned–felt like something was blocking it from opening all the way. Now I don’t feel anything unusual.
If it’s an infection that’s a darn quick result for just a warm compress. But I don’t want to jinx anything; I’ll wait and see what tomorrow brings. If it’s better maybe it was just some grit or something that inflamed the lid, and the makeup is safe after all. But if not, I’ll toss both items. Not worth the risk.
WhyNot, I know I sound very wimpy, don’t I? That’s only because I totally am. Called the pharmacy and asked if I could wait on picking up the prescription and fortunately they hadn’t sent it yet. (Usually the Walgreens fills my prescriptions automatically and delivers them, but in this case I got lucky.) Hopefully I won’t need to pick it up again.
Oh gosh, I just had a thought. All this talk about makeup… I just remembered one thing I did differently last night , or I should say two nights ago by now: I used an eye-makeup remover that I haven’t used in a very long time, probably about six months? Maybe longer? OTOH I used it on both eyes but only one was irritated, so maybe there’s no connection. Possible some got under my eyelid and I didn’t realize it? Who knows.
Finally, USCDiver, that’s embarrassing. I shall choose to believe that my spelling was so terrible, and my proofreading too, because I was grievously handicapped due to my eyelid being a bit swollen. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
I’ll be back in 8 hours or so to let you know the enthralling continuation (or hopefully conclusion) of this health crisis. I know y’all are on tenterhooks!
Seriously, thanks, I really mean it. It takes almost nothing to make my nutty brain go from “what is this uncomfortable feeling?” to “omg it must be life-threatening!” so it was helpful to get some reasonable and quick responses.
Any (semi-) liquid personal care product can become contaminated.
You might also strip the bed and thoroughly vacuum and dust the room in case there’s a biting insect or spider in there.
Good point, j666. But, dang, why is there always housework in everything?
Hmmmmm interesting, j666. It didn’t feel like a bite–there never was any pain or itchiness from it. But I do have some spiders in the apartment (haven’t been able to get rid of them over the years). Can’t hurt to do my regular laundry anyway.
My eye is basically about 98% back to normal today. In fact I’m not sure it’s not normal–the lid looks a little larger/eye looks smaller than the right side, but as I said, it always does. But no sense of discomfort and no redness/tearing.
Hopefully just a fluke due to that makeup remover. I’ll wait a day to make sure this issue is still gone tomorrow, and then get rid of it.
Now if I could just rid of my neuroses just as easily, so I could stop thinking “stroke” or “brain tumor” when my eyelid gets a little puffy…
Thanks y’all.
Yes, uncooked rice 
Similar to the neckwraps they’ll sell you to ease your neck and shoulders – you can always make your own.
I hope it is feeling better! I share your panic about anything eye-related.