Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsEye HygieneHandwashingContact LensesEyelid WashesCompressesReplace Makeup
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Eye Hygiene
Handwashing
Contact Lenses
Eyelid Washes
Compresses
Replace Makeup
Astyeon your eyelid can be painful and annoying. You may not be able to prevent them entirely, but there are things you can do to reduce your risk.
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Daily Eye Hygiene
Clogged pores that line the eyelid can become infected and trigger the development of a stye. To maintain optimal eye hygiene:
Are Styes Contagious?
Frequent Handwashing
Frequent handwashing with soap and water prevents the spread of infection both to yourself and others. Key times to wash your hands include:
Care for Contact Lenses
Failing to take proper care of your contact lenses increases your risk of styes and other eye infections. If you use contact lenses, take care to:
The American Optometric Association recommends avoiding tap water to clean your contact lenses. Research shows that cleaning contact lenses with tap water significantly increases the risk of severe eye infections.
Among some of the recommended commercial preparations:
Warm Compresses
Right before bedtime, apply a warm compress or washcloth soaked in very warm water to your eyes for five to 10 minutes. This can help loosen and remove some of thesebum(oil) that can block a pore and cause a stye.
Warm compresses can also be used to treat styes. Styes respond rapidly to heat, particularly when atopical erythromycin ointmentis applied afterward.
There are some commercially available compresses made specifically for the eye that can be heated in the microwave. Extreme care should be taken when using these products to avoid burns and injury to the eyelid and eye.
Top 6 Causes of Swollen Eyelids
Replace Old Makeup
If you get a stye, it’s important to throw out any makeup or makeup brushes that you used on your eyes. This includes mascara and eyeshadow. These items may be harboring bacteria that worsen the stye or cause it to come back.
Make a habit of replacing your makeup products regularly, whether you’ve had a stye or not. In particular, it’s best to replace eye makeup every three months. And, take care to replace any makeup products that start to smell bad or have changed color or texture.
Summary
Good hygiene goes a long way toward preventing unwanted styes and other eye-related issues.
Old makeup can harbor bacteria that may cause styes. It’s important to replace your makeup products regularly, especially those you use around your eyes.
What Is a Stye on the Eyelid?
5 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Cedars-Sinai.Stye.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About handwashing.National Eye Institute.Contact lenses.United States Environmental Protection Agency.The danger of using tap water with contact lenses.Murphy O, Dwyer V, Lloyd-McKernan A.The effect of lid hygiene on the tear film and ocular surface, and the prevalence ofDemodexblepharitis in university students.Contact Lens & Anterior Eye. 2020 Apr;43(2):159-168. doi:10.1016/j.clae.2019.09.003
5 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Cedars-Sinai.Stye.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About handwashing.National Eye Institute.Contact lenses.United States Environmental Protection Agency.The danger of using tap water with contact lenses.Murphy O, Dwyer V, Lloyd-McKernan A.The effect of lid hygiene on the tear film and ocular surface, and the prevalence ofDemodexblepharitis in university students.Contact Lens & Anterior Eye. 2020 Apr;43(2):159-168. doi:10.1016/j.clae.2019.09.003
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Cedars-Sinai.Stye.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About handwashing.National Eye Institute.Contact lenses.United States Environmental Protection Agency.The danger of using tap water with contact lenses.Murphy O, Dwyer V, Lloyd-McKernan A.The effect of lid hygiene on the tear film and ocular surface, and the prevalence ofDemodexblepharitis in university students.Contact Lens & Anterior Eye. 2020 Apr;43(2):159-168. doi:10.1016/j.clae.2019.09.003
Cedars-Sinai.Stye.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About handwashing.
National Eye Institute.Contact lenses.
United States Environmental Protection Agency.The danger of using tap water with contact lenses.
Murphy O, Dwyer V, Lloyd-McKernan A.The effect of lid hygiene on the tear film and ocular surface, and the prevalence ofDemodexblepharitis in university students.Contact Lens & Anterior Eye. 2020 Apr;43(2):159-168. doi:10.1016/j.clae.2019.09.003
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