Chalazion - Editor's Choice

Over the years, Earth Clinic readers have sent us many reports about their treatments for Chalazion. The editors at Earth Clinic consider the below posts to be some of the most helpful and informative and have named them 'Editor's Choice'. We hope that you will find this useful.

Treat for Demodex Mites

Posted by Miss M (New York) on 07/02/2020
★★★★★

I had same issue as Tron below. All of a sudden monster chalazions in eyes. Doctors said they were just styes. Found info on démodex and read many papers about what works against them.

Hope this helps others:

  • One ounce tin
  • vaseline - this will cover and drown them
  • 4 drops tea tree oil
  • 4 drop lavender oil
  • Melt Vaseline add essential oils and stir well.
  • Pour into container.
  • Apply everyday and night.

With the petroleum salve with tea tree and lavender, you only need to swipe your finger and get scant amount for your lashline. You do not need to goop up! If you have applied too much wipe off with a tissue.

Make sure you use different hands, tissues, wipes for each eye you do not want to transfer the little bugs over to another eye.

Sulphur soap is helpful as demodex hate the smell BUT it will dry your face out. You can buy it on Amazon.

Additionally helpful to me was to use Desert Essence Organics Lemon Tea Tree Shampoo - you can take the cap off and add additional tea tree and lavender oil. Wash your hair and face. This shampoo is for oily hair so it can be drying to hair and face.

Wash your bedding in detergent and borax in HOT water. Your pillow case wash as much as humanly possible and use HOT heat.

Buy unscented babywipes for your eyes. Amazon Basics or Costco.

Throw out your eye makeup and do not wear any until condition clears or you will make it worse.

My doctor didn't even know about these things or my ophthalmologist!


Treat for Demodex Mites
Posted by Tron (UK) on 07/01/2020
★★★★★

I had several bouts of chalazions and tried many remedies, tea tree seemed one of the best in soap form, if u are careful not to get it in the eye itself.

After many eyelid bumps and doctors saying it was blepharitis etc, I stumbled on an idea that it might be an over abundance of demodex folliculorum. I recalled then when they first appeared... it was after inspecting my uncle's dog who had mange on his tail.

Mange is caused by the same mite!! So long story a bit shorter.... ivermectin!! Obviously do your own research but I ordered some in a paste took the amount one would take for other diseases it is prescribed for tropical parasites....And Voila!

Gone after 2 plus years of these things....I occasionally dose myself maybe every 6 months but the little critters that apparently live on everyone's skin can proliferate given the right conditions and lead to many things including chalazions.


Homeopathy

Posted by Jaime (Austin, Tx) on 04/01/2018
★★★★★

Homeopathy (silicea & calc fluor.) for hardened, large, pea-size, long standing Chalazion

My son developed a Chalazion on his right eye (upper lid) around 10 months ago. I was very ill and depleted of all energy to function normally at the time and couldn't do much research on how to help him. I was not happy with the options typically used to "heal" these relentless chalazion: surgery, steroids, antibiotics. Once I was feeling much better a few months later I could dive into research what he needed. I found several natural remedies and most of them seemed far fetched to try on my then 3 year old son. Him putting a warm/hot wet cloth on his eye was not gonna happen especially in the recommended 4-6 times a day at 10-20 minutes each time, eye drops, etc.

In my research it seemed that getting a long standing chalazion that had hardened to soften up was the key to getting it to drain and heal was the ticket. I was researching homeopathy options since I have seen it work for so many other things in our family. After countless hours and 5 or 6 months of researching when I had time I narrowed it down to two remedies I was going to try. Silicea 6c and Calc Fluor. 6c, a dose of each (2 globules of each kind in the mouth at the same time). Silicea brings things out of the body so I was hoping it would bring the pus to the surface.The Calc. Flur has been used for long standing, hardened chalazions.

I would give him a dose morning, noon and evening. The chalazion went thru many phases of me wondering if it was getting better/smaller or not. I took photos almost every day but it was hard to compare the shape/size of it with photos taken from different angles/lighting, etc. Plus, he is 3 so getting him to stand still is challenging for a closeup of his eye. So, some days it would look shiny/red/irritated/angry and other days the redness was gone and it looked smaller. Also, the chalazion shape was changing. So, it went from "oh it looks better" to "oh, I'm not sure if it is improving" but kept going anyway.

After about 10 days from starting the remedies it started looking like a pus pocket was forming on the lower left side of the chalazion. I figured this was a good sign especially if at some point we could get it to open up and massage the junk out. The pus area kept getting bigger and now the chalazion had morphed into a rounded point on that left side where the pus pocket was. If we pressed on the chalazion it was no longer hard and it seemed like it wanted to burst and I thought eventually it would but it never did. We just kept going with the remedies. Around or just before 2 weeks after starting the remedies we could definitely tell it was getting smaller. Today marks the evening of the 16th day of using these 2 remedies and we noticed after his bath that the curve of his upper eye lid was no longer deformed, AT ALL. The chalazion had gotten so big before these remedies that it deformed the contour of his upper eye lid. Instead of it being a typical, natural arch it had a big undulating curve in it. You couldn't see his whole eye because of the deformity. BUT no more.

The arch of his eyelid looked completely normal. When he woke up on the 17th day it had shrunk so much while he slept. It was maybe 15% of it's original size. Sidenote: In the mornings I would notice the biggest change in the chalazion....Some days when I would think it looked way better in the morning by evening it would like angry. I guess my advice would be to keep going with the remedies. I will report back in a week or so with the final results.

The silica 6c and the calc fluor 6c by borion you can purchase on amazon.com or probably any online homeopathic shop.

Also, these are the other homeopathic remedies we tried that didn't work:

  • Staphisagria
  • Plantanus Occ.

We also tried adding flax seed oil to his diet

If my son was older I would have also would have tried the following as well....

-the charcoal/flax meal poltice pouch. using charcoal since it is a drawing agent just makes sense.

-diy eye drops with distilled water and a little manuka honey....the honey burns and I wasn't sure how many weeks I would have to use it and on a 3 year old seemed like a major challenge. I just didn't want to put him thru that. So, we didn't go that route but I would of definitely done it on myself or if he were older. Or even the optimal manuka honey eye drops.

This is very long winded but I am hope that the details will help someone.

Best of luck,

jj


Epsom Salt

Posted by Denise (Kent, Uk) on 09/09/2017
★★★★★

September 2017 ......I've had a Chalazion in each eye for the past 5 months! I'm a 50 yr old night shift worker going through the menopause and have suffered with dry eyes for the past year or so. I've stopped wearing contact lenses due to dry eyes and constant styes and now Chalazions. After the doctor telling me that the NHS refuse to operate now due to cutbacks and finding out that privately it would cost in excess of ‎‎‎‎£500 for each eye with no guarantee that it would be successful or that it wouldn't return, I decided to persevere in treating this myself. I searched the internet for hours and tried a whole load of remedies. After trying pretty much everything over the space of 3 weeks nothing seemed to be shrinking the Chalazions.

The regular salt water eye washes did get rid of all redness and inflammation. The Chalazions being so hard and stubborn after having them for 5 months have taken a lot of patience and determination to get rid but I'm almost there now.

First I washed my eyes 4 times a day with baby shampoo. I got 2 socks and filled them with rice to about the size of a golf ball and tied a knot in them and microwaved for about a minute. I soaked 2 large make up remover pads in Epsom salts and boiled water 50/50. I placed the soaked pads on each eye and then held the heated rice socks on my eyes being careful not to burn eyelids. I did this for half an hour, 4 to 5 times a day. Time consuming but it works! Having the constant heat there shrinks and softens the hard Chalazions. Gently massage after for about a minute each time.

I have been doing this repeatly for about 3 days now and my Chalazions have shrunk to about one fifth in size to what they were and are almost gone. I shall continue to do this until they have totally disappeared. I reckon 2 more days of this treatment should do the trick. I wish Doctors would give this advice to sufferers because this remedy really works, which is why I'm sharing this. I don't wish these awful unsightly things on anyone. Good luck and please just persevere as I have. I promise it really does work.


Manuka Honey

Posted by Bob W. (Lake Winnipesaukee) on 08/19/2017
★★★★★

I went to the DMV recently to renew my drivers licence. It was a hot summer day in the late afternoon. The DMV was packed with sweaty people waiting for their numbers to be called. My number was finally called. I stepped up to the machine to have my eyes tested. The machine was filthy with the residual sweat and oil from hundreds of people putting their faces into the machine. I looked for a tissue or some sort of alcohol wipe of some sort but there was nothing to clean off this equipment in sight. The best I could do is wipe it down with my bare hand. I pressed my face into the machine, got my test and proceeded to have my new photo taken and left. I got in the car and used a hand sanitizer to wash my hands. The next morning I woke up with two different infections, one in each eye. I had a bump under my lower left eye lid like a small round ball, which I assumed was a chalazion, and in the right eye on the lower lid itself was a sty.

I didn't want to go to the doctor knowing that all they'd do is prescribe antibiotics, which I didn't want to take if I didn't have to. I proceeded with warm compresses 4x a day. At night and in the morning I applied Active Manuka Honey (15+) directly into both eyes with a Q-tip. I knew Manuka Honey had properties to kill the MRSA virus so figured it must have natural properties in line with antibiotics. The Manuka Honey stings and causes your eyes to water quite a bit for about 3-5min but it goes away completely after that. Also, it's not the big sticky mess you'd imagine with putting honey in your eye. At night I leave the full strength Manuka in my eyes all night long. In the morning I leave it in only while eating breakfast, but combine it with the warm compress.

I've seen increadable results, the sty went away almost immediately. The chalazion takes longer to go away. It has reduced tremendously down to the size of a small buckshot bb. The initial chalazion was even distorting my vision by the pressue it was giving to the eye itself. That has reversed. I occassionally get dry eye and they are sensitive to artifical fragrances, particularly the noxious gas given off by the ubiquitous dryer sheets people use. The Manuka Honey treatment seems to have soothed my eyes and they feel well moistened and healthier.

You can purchase Manuka Honey online or at Whole Foods. The key is to find one which has a higher "UMF rating" of 15+ or higher. Manuka Honey comes from New Zealand and is honey derived from bees that pollinate the manuka (tea tree) bush.


Castor Oil, Epsom Salts, Chamomile Tea

Posted by Yukiko (Inaba) on 03/30/2017
★★★★☆

All I can say is, I wish I could give all chalazion/stye sufferers one big, tear-ridden hug. I've been suffering with eye problems since 2014; I'm in my twenties and I'm a mascara wearer, been one for years. However, I've come to realize my methods of make-up removal were not up to par. It all started in my right eye, the feeling of a piece of sand stuck underneath my top lid. I see the white-head, and assume it's a pimple, and I go full force when I see a white-head. DO NOT EVER DO THIS. EVER! I made it worse, google image search a picture of a stye and I was probably the worst picture that comes up. However the actual stye went away within a few days with just mere warm compresses.

This was just merely the intro. Evidently I did not drain the stye properly, because it appeared to harden to a small lump under my eye. I'm a pretty aloof person in general, and I'm not one to zone in on micro imperfections on my face as well as others, but one day I noticed that my right lid was a bit..lumpier? Than the left. I realize it's still probably some puss. Fast forward to researching about ACV and coconut oil, I go full force. All I did was burn my lid because I stupidly used pure apple cider vinegar instead of diluted. Okay, I back off and dilute the vinegar. Nothing. Maybe the swelling went down for me, but swelling wasn't my problem as it was a small rice sized lumb is stuck under my damn lid! Nothing would make it budge. It's 2017 and I still have this small lump, but it's barely noticeable.

Enter my left eye. I've been blissfully accustomed to my left eye being the golden child, problem free. I get a stye of February this year. A pretty bad one. At this point I'm not panicking because styes actually go away fairly quickly for me. I even do a bit of ACV treatment with my newfound knowledge of it. (ACV works miraculously for STYES, but in my case, not for chalazions). It's draining, I had to call a few days off work but it's draining. I delight when I see the collection of pure white gunk collect in the corner of my eye (fellow stye/chalazion sufferers, you'll definitely know how great this feels). My eye seems back to normal!!! Except...it's just like my right eye, there's another small lump!! And I'll be damned if it's symmetrical with my right!!

I get depressed over this now and then. I wouldn't call myself a vain person but having eye problems like this is just embarassing, although nobody has ever pointed out they noticed it, except my boyfriend who was unfortunately my right hand man during my terrible stye flame up which everyone could notice (I tactfully stayed indoors).

Okay onto the treatment, sorry I just wanted to share my story with you guys and know that I'm with you totally, I know how frustrating it is to have something that will never go away, and surgery will never be an option for me. But..here's the light at the end of the tunnel. On a whim I bought castor oil. Yeah I've read such things about it helping eye problems, but the good stories seemed few and far between. It seemed the frontrunner of chalazion cures was still ACV, but that just doesn't do anything for me other than smell bad and burn my lid, even diluted. (and yes, I alternate warm compresses and cool ACV every so often, sometimes doing this multiple times a day for a week straight, nothing). But castor oil. I've read many techniques, so I kind of make my own routine to see how that will work. And by god..I think I got something going here. My lump under my left eye seems more "localized", meaning I could definitely isolate it and move it around other than it just being a swollen mass.

Note: I do want to focus on my right eye, but that is just a small piece of rice compared to my left. I apply castor oil, soak a warm paper towel in some epsom salts (that also has been working and encouraging little crusties in my eyes when I wake up in the morning which I take as a good sign) and lay that right on top of the castor oil so it kind of sticks. From what I've learned, when you read "warm compress", it does not have to be piping hot or even "hot as you can stand". Take it from me guys, all it does is burn your eyelid and make it red and even more unsightly. Definitely warm but not to the point of pain, it should feel soothing. I alternate between this and cool treatments of chamomile tea bags for just a few minutes. When I wake up in the morning, it feels a bit smaller and smaller. I know this is going to take a while but thats how long it needs, and folks, they do eventually go away. Some people have had theirs for years when one day it just goes. It's just unfortunate for those of us who have to be in the public and are always a bit weary of our eyes. However, I will never get surgery. There's no guarantee it will be removed, and I've read stories of scarring and sometimes styes/chalazions coming back for vengeance. I'm sure surgery has worked for some and I applaud them, however, I believe homeopathy is the way to go and everyone is different so we all just need to keep experimenting.

For me, castor oil, epsom salts, and chamomile tea all together have been showing some differences. You could even do these treatments before you have to be somewhere. Just remember, do not burn your eyelid because you could make it worse and who knows, you may just be dealing with an inflamed lid instead of something underneath and you wouldn't know it because you're burning it.

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to finally share my struggles. I can't wait for the day where they make a magic pill to cure these things. And yes I've tried staphysagria and it didn't do anything for me.


Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Rebecca (A) on 02/01/2017
★★★★★

December 2016 I woke to find a sudden pain like my eye was swollen and later that day I went to my optometrist. At that time I was told I had a stye and got drops and told to use hot compresses. Four days later it was a fun blown stye/chalazion!! I was given a steroid shot and a eye patch that is a compress by an ophthalmologist in Florida on vacation. Fast forward a week or two and my dermatologist took a biopsy! That's right! It was drained a bit on my top right lid. Then I had medication and compresses again. It looked BAD. I then on the same day decided an oclioplasric surgeon would be best. I got in on a whim and had 3 injections inside the top lid!!!! Them told to do compresses. 2 months later and and other visit. One more injections was put in and other day I was told in the middle of February if it was not gone prepare for surgery!!!!! I watched videos and knew the surgery might be pretty invasive since I would be put to sleep....

Well Jan 31st I read up and found this site. THANK you everyone before me for your post. I followed suit and bought apple cider vinegar with the "mother". I put it on with a cotton ball for five minutes and had a tablespoon in 8 0z of water. In before bed I did another cotton swab of apple cider vinegar for 5 minutes and then I warm eyepatch.

AMAZING RESULTS in the FIRST few hours. I woke up in the middle of the night and looked in the mirror. I could not believe my I almost look like my other eye. It is been about 2 months and I've been suffering with this inflamed redness with a chalazion bump in the middle. I'm going to keep this up for as long as possible and pray that this means it will be completely gone very soon period 4 on the outside it already looks amazing. Thank you again everyone for your post and I'm so grateful I found this site. But most of all I am grateful that I tried the natural approach using apple cider vinegar. ONLY A FEW HOURS AND SO FAR SO AMAZING!!

I tried to post before and afters. You're only allowed me to pull up one. I have no problem sharing if anyone needs to see my pictures. It looks almost a hundred percent better this morning!



Hot Compress

Posted by D (California) on 07/23/2016
★★★★★

FORGET HOT WATER ON A RAG!! It doesn't work! I promised myself that if I was to ever find out how to get rid of chalazions without getting them cut out I would share it with everyone because I know how much it sucks having them especially going and getting them cut out 4 times. For two years I have been looking for answers and it wasn't until I actually met someone who used to get them.

Very simple. Get a sock and put a handful of rice in it, tie it in a knot at the top and put it in the microwave for 20 seconds, let it cool off and apply if on the chalazion. The heat lasts way longer than hot water on a rag.

I would do this about 4 times a day and between those times, I would massage the chalazion. I had two on my eyelid and one coming on the bottom. Because of the rice in a sock, I no longer have them and life is turning around for the better!

Hope this helps anyone.


Coconut Oil

Posted by Samantha (Santa Cruz, Ca) on 07/13/2016
★★★★★

My four year old hated warm compresses, so I tried massaging coconut oil into his eyelids (eyelash zone) after wiping with a damp cloth, morning and at night before bed time- just a quick 3-4 second massage to get it into the eyelid and inner eyelid area. Coconut oil does not irritate eyes.

It took some time for the chalazion to eventually burst and go away, but he has not had a recurring one since (it's been 6 months), and he was having them all the time (sometimes one in each eye). I think this is the way to manage someone (especially a child) who has recurring chalazion problems.


Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Jack (Usa) on 04/15/2016
★★★★★

My story.

My eye was bothering me back in January and I did not know why. I never pulled my eyelid back to have a look until maybe 3-4 weeks in. That is when I saw it. It was about the size of a lentil at the time and I figured it would just go away on its own. It did not go away. So I started applying warm compresses once in a while but was lazy and did not do it often. Two weeks ago a few days before a trip to the UK it got bigger to about the size of pea and I started to worry. I looked around on the internet and found out what it was called and what caused it. Sadly, I also stumbled upon a youtube video of Chalazion surgery that freaked me out. I started using the warm compresses religiously with no effect.

While in the UK I did more research and happened upon this excellent site. Sadly, I could not find ACV with mother in the small town I was in and so I just used the filtered stuff. I honestly don't think it had much of an effect. I returned back to the states last Sunday and went straight to the health food store to buy ACV with the "mother". I also saw other remedies and my plan was to attack this little bugger from multiple angles

This was my strategy:

I drank 1 TBSP ACV diluted in 6-8 oz water each morning and evening

I heated a 1-1 ratio of ACV in the microwave (45-60 s) or used a hot kettle to mix with AVC. I also either used the hot kettle to heat a rag or wet a rag placed in coffee mug and also heated that in microwave. Just get them hot.

I dipped a cotton round in the mixture, gently closed my eye and rubbed across it 3 or 4 times to “clean it”. Then I dunked another one, placed over my eye and use the rag as a warm compress on top of it. I did this 3-4 times a day with the last one around 8p. I also used a clean cotton round to do the other eye just in case.

Before bed time I open an activated charcoal capsule and mixed with warm water to make a paste. I used a Q-tip to place the mixture on the Chalazion on the OUTSIDE of my eye and left it there for 30 minutes or so. I washed this off with baby shampoo. Hard to get off so be careful not to get in your eye. Then I applied castor oil to the Chalazion on the OUTSIDE of eye using a Q-tip. I put it on fairly thick and left it there to dry out overnight. Lady at drugstore must have thought I had some issues as charcoal and castor oil are often used for gastro problems. Next morning start again.

After just a day or so the swelling on the outside started to go down but I did not notice any change in size of the Chalazion itself

Thursday (only 4 days later) while in the airport working on my laptop my vision in that eye started to get blurry. Went to the mirror in he bathroom and saw white gunk in my eye and could see the Chalazion had a small head on it that was leaking. Gross, yes. But a relief that the method was working. I tried squeezing it softly but did not want to do it too much so I left it alone and throughout the flight I would dab eye occasionally with a clean cotton round (new one each time). Little by little more gunk was coming out.

The Chalazion is not gone yet but it is more than half the size it was and looks flatter than before. I am not giving up on the process as I want to make sure this completely goes away.

My takeaways that I hope helps other in the same boat I was in.

Be persistent and don't miss treatments.

Use as hot a compress and ACV mixture as you can stand. You don't want to burn your skin.

Try multiple remedies.

I was not a fan of putting ACV directly on the Chalazion with a Q-tip but when I wiped my eye or used the compress some ultimately made it in.

I think the ACV with mother is really necessary as I used the filtered version for 5 or 6 days with no effect.

Good luck


Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Shelby (Indiana, Pa) on 02/14/2016

This post is long overdue, but I wanted to write it in case someone out there gets into the same situation as I did.

Back in June I woke up to find a swollen upper eyelid. I've had styes in the past, so I knew immediately to start warm compressing. After a few days though, I noticed it wasn't going down at all and was actually feeling "harder". I went to the doctor as I had to go anyway for work. She told me of course to continue warm compressing and that it was just a sty. However, come the beginning of AUGUST and it was still wasn't gone. I went to my ophthalmologist, and they told me that two months was definitely too long. This wasn't a sty, it was a chalazion.

One way to tell the difference is that chalazion generally aren't sensitive to touch like a sty. Another way is that stys often have what looks like a white head, chalazions are red lumps. Chalazions are clogged glands while stys are infections of the glands. Anyway, I was heading back to college in a few weeks so I wanted this taken care of immediately. My options were to see if it would go away on its own, or surgery as topical ointments do not work for chalazions. I decided to get surgery. The surgery wasn't a big deal. It was very quick. However my eye was swollen and bruised for about a week..... And my chalazion was still there. Yes it was a little smaller, but it was still there and I was not happy. When I got my checkup the doctor told me to give it more time.

I went back to college and did my research and on this site is where I found that apple cider vinegar can help. So naturally, I bought some ACV with the mother (Definitely get with the mother). Twice a day I would apply some on a cotton ball and dab my chalazion. At night I would even hold it against my chalazion for five minutes. It didn't burn too much and by a few days later, I noticed my eyelid would have white and yellow crust when waking up... Which meant it was draining! It was noticeably smaller as well!

Anyway, in September I had to go back to the ophthalmologist for my second check up. At this point, I had a large hard white dot on my chalazion which meant it had formed a head. It was only a few days later when the white head finally fell off! I barely had a lump anymore but I continued with the ACV to make sure it was completely gone. My eyelid finally became flat and it still is! Overall, ACV with the mother was my savior to getting rid of this chalazion.

For anyone who gets chalazions or stys, I suggest purchasing regular old eye drops and using them regularly as a preventative. They will balance your eyes PH and keep glands clean and flowing.


Discover Your Food Sensitivities

Posted by Juliemarie (Front Royal, Virginia) on 09/23/2015
★★★★★

I read all the posts about remedies for a chalazion, such as apple cider vinegar, castor oil, etc., and all of these are great, but I'd like to offer you a way to keep from getting them in the first place. I discovered that there is a compelling link between foods you are sensitive to and the development of a chalazion on your eye. For me, it is eggs, dairy, and anything with sulfites in it, like white wine. You will want to experiment until you find your trigger foods. I learned this concept from a total stranger, who saw me putting expensive eye drops in my eye in a public restroom, and saw my chalazion. Happily for me, she was not shy, and she approached me and asked, "Do you eat eggs?" Imagine my surprise and confusion. She told me that she recognized both the eye drops I was using and the chalazion I was treating. She said she used to get them all the time, until she learned that she was allergic to eggs. I quit eating eggs and the problem went away.

Pay attention to what time of day the problem is worse or gets better. I saw one post where the contributor noted that theirs was worst in the morning. Mine was always better in the morning, and deteriorated after breakfast: of course, since I was usually eating eggs or cereal with milk, and I have learned that both eggs and milk are triggers. The person who wrote that theirs was worst in the morning is probably eating the offending food at dinnertime or later, causing the inflammation to increase overnight.

You will want to do some careful detective work, because you can't assume that a trigger food will give you a chalazion every time: if I eat one egg by itself, I am usually still ok. What happens is that your trigger foods will prompt a chalazion to set in if you either eat the food several days in a row -- or if you are run down or stressed at the time you partake of the food. Or if you eat multiple trigger foods at the same meal. (An egg quiche washed down with white wine would give me one for sure! )

So continue with all the great ACV, castor oil, etc. that are suggested on this blog -- but try to find why you are prone to them in the first place. Food sensitivities can cause a broad array of weird health issues.

Warm regards from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, JulieMarie


Apple Cider Vinegar, Hot Compress

Posted by Cynthia G. (Michigan) on 08/09/2015
★★★★★

I was treated for Graves Eye Disease from 2006-2011 and had 21 eye surgeries through this ordeal.

I had 7 decompressions, muscle surgeries, eyelid stuff, retinal procedures and was warned that there was a good chance someday that the sebacious glands would plug up and I would have chalazians. I was treated throughout my eye disease at the VERY BEST EYE HOSPITAL, KELLOGG EYE CENTER, on Planet Earth. 4 years later I got my first chalazian and local doctors thought it was due mostly to all the build-up from scar tissue. So I tried heat compresses for months and one surgeon removed it by cutting through top of eye lid because my lids have been through too much and are brittle and cannot be flipped.

Then 4 stitches and cauterization later, I think all is well. Within 3 weeks I have 4-5 new bumps forming. So I go back and see another doctor and he suggests 4 shots to the eye that will infiltrate the bumps and tells me they will be forever banished in 30 days and NONE will return. I won't even BEGIN to try and explain how crazy painful this procedure was and now I know why FEW attempt this one but I was truly desperate. And I made a SERIOUS LAPSE IN JUDGMENT by not returning to the Kellogg Eye Center and Dr. Victor Elner.

Needless to say, 3 weeks after this last procedure, 3 more cysts appeared and rapidly enlarged. The doxycycline I had been on was doing nothing for me but giving me a constant and consistent yeast infection. I couldn't win. In fact, I felt like I was totally losing ground. So I got on the net and found Earth Clinic and in 12 hours my eye life began to change.

I read about the white tea bag compresses and the ACV applications to the affected eyelid and whammo....when I woke up in the morning my bumps were reduced in size noticeably and apoeared to be coming to a head. Now within 2 days we were able to express the bumps and I have not stopped with the vinegar as I believe it will keep the sebacious glands from hooefully clogging.

I also took someone's advice on Earth Clinic to use baby tearless shampoo to wash eyes. Great idea and I use nothing else.

And I top my regimen off with frankincense or purified castor oil to keep my lids smooth and soft. It has been only 2 full weeks and my affected eye looks so normal it is unreal. Everyday it looks healthier.

The last procedure, the one with the 4 shots to the lid, was traumatizing, and the combination I guess is what has caused me to lose roughly 25 or so eyelashes from the outside upper lid corner. Ugh! I am now hoping time and essential oils will encourage new growth. It has been approximately 3 months.

And I also drink 2-3 ounces of ACV a day and have done this for years. But it was the q-tip and ACV applied directly to the lid that started my turn-a-round. I must comment on how EASY hot compresses are with tea bags. They hold the heat better than anything plus to warm up you just drop back into your hot cup of tea. Chamomile tea works well, too. Have to wonder if the properties of tea are also miracle workers :-) I did both initially.

Any tips on lash growth? One thing at a time.......thank you! Cynthia


Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Dbug (Berkeley, Ca) on 08/05/2015
★★★★★

I have struggled with Styes and Chalazions on and off for about 9 years. Since the first one, they've occurred about a dozen times. Not bad, you might think, but half of them lasted longer than a month, and 2 of them lasted nearly a year. The last big one I needed surgery to get rid of it, and even after that was done... it still took months for it to finally go away.

So, you know my history. And during those trials, I tried a LOT. Epsom salt. Warm compresses. Hot compresses. Antibiotics. Colloidal silver. Bentonite clay. Cleanses. Homeopathics. Crazy tinctures. Oh, man, you name it, I tried it. I got so frustrated with the ol' "Quasimodo Eye" that I once tried to "pop" the Chalazion. WARNING: DO NOT EVER DO THIS! Take it from an idiot who got impatient and did that. There is nothing to drain. Chalazions don't work like that. I did that, and it went from awful to out-of-this-world bad. Like, a cross between a horror film and a comedy because it was so unbelievable. (That's when the doctor ordered the surgery.)

So. Here I am. It's been about 3.5 years since that awful occurrence and I live in fear of it happening again. I am careful and wash my eyelids like I'm OCD. And that helps. But, they STILL happen.

Yada yada yada. So 3 weeks ago, I woke up to the familiar horror of a sty. Not the worst I've seen, but oh sweet clowns of destiny, I felt a wave of panic knowing how these things can make a sudden turn for the worst.

Desperate, I spent hours online looking for more possible cures. I found the Apple Cider Vinegar cure here at Earth Clinic. And I didn't have anything to loose, so I tried it.

And this WORKED. Here's what I'd do:

1. It was always worst in the morning. So I'd take a hot shower, and run that hot water over my eye until the hot water tank ran out. Other times in the day, I'd do a hot compress. Always with hot water, as the moisture seems to help in a way that a dry compress doesn't.

2. Next, I'd soak a cotton make-up pad thingy... they're like a cotton ball that has been run over by a steamroller... I'd dab or soak it in ACV. Then I'd close my "Quasimodo Eye" (Lefty) and just land that right on top of my eyelid, holding the thing in place for about 2-5 minutes.

3. I'd repeat those basic steps about 3-6 times a day. Before each application of the ACV, I'd wash my eyelids with just a little bit of soap. But I wouldn't wash them after the ACV application.

Every time I'd do this treatment, within about an hour or two the swelling went down to almost nothing. It came and went like this for a few days. After the third day, my eye suddenly started... well... it's like a lot of mucus started to come out of my eye. Like, crazy amounts. After that, the swelling was almost un-noticeable. And I kept doing the treatments for another 4 or 5 days.

(After a few days, the ACV seemed to burn a bit more... but no harm seemed to come from this.) It was probably 8 or 9 days when I just stopped using the ACV. 2 weeks later, there is the tiniest remnant of it, but only I can tell, and I will probably start a second round of treatments to vanquish whatever remains. But lemme just say that nothing I have tried thus far has gotten me results ANYTHING CLOSE to what ACV has done.

I know how awful these buggers can be, and I truly hope you are reading this post at some point in the future where a permanent, lasting cure has finally eliminated chalazions and styes from humanity's troubled past. BUT, if that ain't the case, and you gots one... fer the love of all that is good and tasty, try this!



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