A stye is a painful red bump on your eyelid, usually right along the lash line, caused by a bacterial infection in a hair follicle or oil gland. If you’re dealing with a tender, swollen spot that appeared over the past day or two, there’s a good chance that’s what you’re looking at. Here’s how to confirm it and tell it apart from other eyelid bumps.
The Key Signs of a Stye
The most obvious sign is a red, painful bump on the edge of your eyelid, close to your lashes. It often looks like a small pimple or boil, and it hurts when you touch it or blink. Pain is the defining feature. A bump on your eyelid that doesn’t hurt is likely something else.
Beyond the bump itself, styes cause several other symptoms:
- Swelling that can affect part or all of your eyelid
- Tearing and discharge, sometimes with crusting along your lash line
- A gritty, scratchy feeling like something is stuck in your eye
- Sensitivity to bright light
- Soreness and itching around the bump
Styes typically develop quickly. You might notice tenderness and slight swelling one evening, then wake up to a visible bump the next morning. They can appear on your upper or lower eyelid.
External vs. Internal Styes
External styes are the most common type. They form on the outer surface of your eyelid, right at the base of an eyelash, where bacteria have infected the hair follicle. These are easy to spot because you can see the bump when you look in a mirror.
Internal styes form on the inside of your eyelid, facing your eyeball. These happen when bacteria infect one of the oil-producing glands embedded deeper in the lid. You may not see a visible bump on the outside, but you’ll feel a painful, swollen area. If you gently pull your eyelid away from your eye and look in a mirror, you might spot redness or a small raised area on the inner surface. Internal styes tend to cause more of that “something in my eye” sensation because the bump presses directly against your eyeball.
Stye vs. Chalazion
This is the most common mix-up. Both are bumps on the eyelid, but they feel and behave differently. A stye is an active infection, so it’s painful, red, and tender from the start. A chalazion is a clogged oil gland without infection. It’s usually not painful, develops more slowly, and tends to sit farther back from the lash line than a stye does.
A chalazion often starts as a small, firm lump you barely notice and gradually grows over weeks. A stye announces itself with pain within a day or two. That said, a stye that doesn’t fully resolve can sometimes turn into a chalazion once the infection clears but the gland remains blocked. If your bump was painful at first but has since become a painless, firm lump that won’t go away, that transition may have happened.
What Causes Styes
Styes are caused by bacteria, almost always the type that normally lives on your skin. The infection takes hold when bacteria get into a lash follicle or oil gland on your eyelid. Several everyday habits raise your risk:
- Touching your eyes with unwashed hands
- Putting in contact lenses without clean hands or proper disinfection
- Sleeping in eye makeup
- Using old or expired cosmetics
Some people are also more prone to styes because of underlying conditions. Blepharitis, a chronic inflammation along the eyelid margin, is a common one. Rosacea, the skin condition that causes facial redness, also increases your likelihood. If you keep getting styes despite good hygiene, one of these conditions could be the reason.
How Long Styes Last
Most styes resolve on their own within one to two weeks. The bump fills with pus, eventually drains (often while you sleep), and then heals. You can speed this up with warm compresses: soak a clean washcloth in warm water, wring it out, and hold it against your closed eyelid for 10 to 15 minutes, several times a day. The heat helps the blocked gland open and drain.
Resist the urge to squeeze or pop a stye. That can push the infection deeper into your eyelid and make things worse. Let it drain on its own, or let the warm compresses do the work.
When a Stye Needs Medical Attention
If warm compresses aren’t helping after several days, or if the stye keeps growing, your doctor may prescribe an antibiotic ointment or drops. When the infection has spread beyond the bump to the surrounding eyelid skin, oral antibiotics are sometimes needed. For a very large stye that won’t drain, a doctor can lance it with a small needle to release the fluid.
Certain warning signs suggest the infection is spreading beyond your eyelid and needs urgent care. Get to a doctor quickly if you develop a fever along with eyelid swelling, if the swelling and redness spread well beyond the eyelid to the skin around your eye socket, if you notice vision changes, or if your eye starts bulging forward. These can signal a deeper infection called cellulitis that requires prompt treatment to protect your vision.