Stye When Pregnant: Causes and Safe Treatments

Pregnancy raises the likelihood of developing a stye because hormonal shifts alter the oil-producing glands in your eyelids and destabilize your tear film. Most styes that appear during pregnancy respond well to the same first-line treatment used for anyone else: consistent warm compresses applied several times a day. The reassuring news backed by recent research is that when compresses alone are not enough, certain topical antibiotic eye drops have not shown increased risks to the pregnancy in safety analyses. Still, the details matter, and a few popular home remedies that seem harmless actually carry real dangers for a pregnant person.

Why Pregnancy Makes Styes More Likely

A stye forms when bacteria, almost always a species of Staphylococcus, infect one of the tiny oil glands along the edge of your eyelid.¹ Under normal circumstances your meibomian glands and the smaller glands of Zeiss produce an oily layer that keeps your tear film stable and your lid margins healthy. During pregnancy, rising levels of estrogen and progesterone interfere with that process. Studies comparing pregnant women to non-pregnant controls have consistently found that meibomian gland tissue loss is significantly greater in pregnant women, with losses roughly double what is seen in age-matched controls.² A separate study found meibomian gland loss rates of about 35 to 40 percent in pregnant participants versus around 15 to 20 percent in non-pregnant women.³

When these glands lose function or become partially blocked, the oily secretions back up. Bacteria that normally live on your skin, particularly Staphylococcus aureus (carried by roughly a third of the general population), find an easy foothold in a clogged gland.⁴ That is essentially how a stye starts: gland blockage plus bacterial overgrowth equals a small, painful abscess on your lid margin.

Pregnancy-related dry eye compounds the problem. Current evidence suggests that dry eye syndrome affects between 20 and 50 percent of pregnant women, most commonly during the second and third trimesters, driven by those same hormonal fluctuations.⁵ A destabilized tear film means less natural defense against bacterial colonization along the lid margin, which further nudges the odds toward stye formation.

External Versus Internal Styes

Not every bump on your eyelid is the same thing, and the distinction matters for how quickly the problem resolves. An external stye (external hordeolum) affects the glands of Zeiss at the base of an eyelash. It tends to come to a head on the outer lid surface and often drains on its own within a week or so. An internal stye (internal hordeolum) sits deeper, in one of the larger meibomian glands inside the lid. Internal styes usually cause more swelling and pain, and they rarely drain spontaneously.¹

You should also know what a stye is not. A chalazion is a chronic, painless bump that develops when a blocked meibomian gland causes localized inflammation without active infection. Chalazia and styes sit on a continuum. A stye that does not fully resolve can leave behind the kind of blockage that turns into a chalazion weeks later.⁶ If a lump lingers for several weeks without tenderness, redness, or warmth, it has likely transitioned from an acute stye to a chalazion and may need a different approach.

Warm Compresses as First-Line Treatment

The standard treatment for a stye during pregnancy is the same as outside of pregnancy: warm compresses applied to the closed eyelid for 10 to 15 minutes, three to four times a day. The heat loosens the clogged oil inside the gland, encourages drainage, and brings more blood flow to the area so your immune system can fight the infection. No medication enters your bloodstream, which makes this approach universally safe for any trimester.

There are a few practical things that make a difference. A clean washcloth dipped in warm (not scalding) water works fine, but it cools off quickly. Reheatable gel masks or microwaveable eye bags maintain a more consistent temperature over the full treatment window. What matters most is sustaining gentle warmth long enough for the gland contents to soften. Pressing on the stye, trying to pop it, or squeezing it can push the infection deeper and is the single most common mistake people make at home.

In addition to compresses, keeping the lid clean helps prevent a stye from recurring. A gentle lid scrub with diluted baby shampoo or a commercially available lid wipe once or twice daily can reduce the bacterial load along the lid margin. During pregnancy, when your meibomian glands are already under stress, this kind of lid hygiene is worth maintaining as a routine even after the stye resolves.

When Antibiotic Eye Drops Are Needed

If warm compresses alone do not clear the stye within a week, or if the redness and swelling are spreading, your doctor may prescribe topical antibiotic eye drops or ointment. The natural worry during pregnancy is whether the medication poses any risk to the baby. A large propensity-score analysis specifically examined the safety of topical ophthalmic antibiotics in pregnant women who were being treated for conditions including styes. The study found no significant difference in the rates of congenital anomalies, preterm birth, or low birth weight between women who used topical antibiotic drops and those who did not.⁷ Even when the analysis was narrowed to women who used a single antibiotic rather than multiple types, the results stayed the same.

The reason topical eye drops carry so little systemic risk is that the amount of drug absorbed into the bloodstream through the eye is tiny. The conjunctival surface area is small, and much of the drop drains through your tear duct and is swallowed or simply absorbed locally. Erythromycin ointment and certain fluoroquinolone drops are the formulations most commonly used for eyelid infections, though your prescriber will choose based on what is appropriate for your specific situation and trimester. The key point is that avoiding antibiotic drops entirely out of fear, and letting a stye worsen into a larger lid infection, is not the safer choice.

Remedies to Avoid During Pregnancy

Some traditional home remedies for eye complaints are harmless in normal circumstances but carry specific risks during pregnancy. Chamomile poultices and chamomile-based eye rinses are among the most commonly recommended folk remedies for styes, and they deserve a clear warning. Chamomile pollen can trigger allergic conjunctivitis on the eye’s surface. The reaction does not necessarily happen on first exposure; instead, the immune system quietly builds sensitivity, so the poultice seems safe on first use but can provoke a significant allergic reaction on repeat use.⁸ Compounds called sesquiterpene lactones in chamomile can also cause contact dermatitis of the eyelid skin. More alarmingly, a case has been documented in which a chamomile preparation given to a laboring woman caused a severe allergic reaction that led to fatal fetal hypoxia.⁸ While that case involved a chamomile enema rather than an eye poultice, the underlying allergic mechanism applies regardless of the route of exposure. The take-home message is that chamomile near the eyes during pregnancy is not worth the risk when warm water works just as well.

Other remedies to be cautious with include tea tree oil and essential oil blends. Tea tree oil has documented antimicrobial properties, but it is a known skin sensitizer, and concentrated application near the eyes can cause chemical irritation or contact dermatitis. During pregnancy, when your immune responses are already shifting, introducing a new potential allergen to the delicate eyelid skin is a gamble. Stick with plain warm compresses and saline-based cleansers unless your eye care provider specifically recommends something else.

Preventing Recurrent Styes During Pregnancy

Because the gland dysfunction that predisposes you to styes persists throughout pregnancy and often into the early postpartum period, a single stye can easily become a recurring problem. A few habits reduce the chances of another one forming:

• Daily lid hygiene: A quick wipe along the lash line with a lid-specific cleanser once a day helps keep bacterial counts low and prevents the buildup of dried oil at the gland openings.
• Hands off your eyes: Rubbing your eyes or touching the lid margin introduces bacteria and can mechanically traumatize already compromised glands.
• Replace eye makeup: Mascara and eyeliner that have been open for more than three months harbor bacteria. Pencil liners applied directly to the waterline are a particular risk factor for gland blockage.
• Contact lens caution: If you wear contact lenses, the pregnancy-related changes to your tear film may make your lenses less comfortable and increase your risk of lid margin irritation. Switching to glasses for part of the day gives your eyelids a break.

None of these measures are specific to pregnancy, but they carry more weight during a time when your meibomian glands are losing function at an accelerated rate compared to your pre-pregnancy baseline.³

When to See a Doctor

Most styes are self-limiting and never need anything beyond home care. But a few warning signs during pregnancy mean you should get it looked at rather than waiting it out:

• Spreading redness: If the redness and swelling extend beyond the immediate area of the bump and start to involve a larger portion of the eyelid or the skin around your eye, the infection may be evolving into preseptal cellulitis, a more serious soft-tissue infection that requires oral antibiotics.
• Fever or feeling unwell: A stye alone should not cause systemic symptoms. If you develop a fever, that suggests the infection has moved beyond the local gland.
• Vision changes: Any blurring, double vision, or pain with eye movement warrants urgent evaluation. These could point to the infection spreading behind the septum toward the orbit.
• No improvement after two weeks: A stye that shows no change despite consistent warm compresses may need incision and drainage, or it may actually be a chalazion or another lid lesion altogether.

During pregnancy, your threshold for seeking evaluation should be lower than it otherwise would be. Oral antibiotics need to be chosen with pregnancy safety in mind, and certain commonly prescribed options are contraindicated. An ophthalmologist or your prescribing provider can select the right one.

What Happens After Delivery

The hormonal roller coaster does not end at birth. In the days following delivery, estrogen and progesterone drop sharply once the placenta is removed, typically returning to pre-pregnancy levels within about five days. At the same time, the immune system undergoes a shift from the suppressed, tolerance-oriented state of pregnancy back toward a more inflammatory baseline.⁹ This reactivation of inflammatory pathways can paradoxically trigger new flare-ups of conditions that were simmering during pregnancy, including eyelid inflammation.

If you had recurrent styes during pregnancy, the early postpartum weeks are a vulnerable window. The meibomian gland loss that accumulated over nine months does not reverse overnight, and the immune rebound can intensify the inflammatory response at any gland that is partially blocked. Continuing daily lid hygiene and warm compresses through the postpartum period is a practical way to bridge that gap until your gland function stabilizes. If you are breastfeeding and develop a stye that needs treatment beyond compresses, the same topical antibiotic drops that are safe during pregnancy are generally compatible with breastfeeding, since the systemic absorption is minimal.

Dry Eye and Styes as a Shared Problem

Many pregnant women notice their eyes feel gritty, tired, or watery before a stye ever shows up. That is not a coincidence. The meibomian gland dysfunction that sets the stage for a stye is the same process that drives pregnancy-related dry eye. Current reviews estimate that dry eye affects between a fifth and half of pregnant women, peaking in the second and third trimesters.⁵ Tear film break-up time, a measure of how quickly your tear film becomes unstable between blinks, is significantly shorter in pregnant women, which means the protective tear layer is not lasting as long as it should.²

If you are dealing with both dry eye and styes, addressing the underlying gland dysfunction helps with both. Preservative-free artificial tears are safe during pregnancy and can supplement the tear film while warm compresses work on keeping the glands flowing. Some women find that their dry eye symptoms improve after delivery as hormone levels normalize, while others notice they persist, particularly if breastfeeding prolongs the hormonal changes. Paying attention to your eye comfort during pregnancy can prompt earlier treatment that prevents a stye from forming in the first place, rather than waiting to react once one has already appeared.