Effective Natural Remedies for Chalazion

I've had a few chalazion in my right eye for quite some time now, over a year. I've tried everything; apple cider vinegar, epsom salt, hot compresses, steam facials, etc. One day, I found a post (on here, actually) about activated charcoal. I've heard a lot of great things about its benefits, so I decided to try it. I mixed about 3 tablespoons of activated charcoal, 2 tablespoons of flaxseed (ground), and added about a half cup of water. I let the mixture sit for about 15-20 minutes to thicken. It should have the consistency of a paste. I got a paper towel, put a spoonful of the mixture on it, folded it over to enclose the mixture, and placed it over my eye. I also put a sandwich bag over the towel to prevent the mixture from drying, and wrapped gauze around my head to keep it in place. I slept about 7 hours with it on my eye, and when I woke up, I noticed my bottom eyelid got bigger, and when I pulled down my eyelid, I noticed whitehead-like spots. I decided to continue the treatment, and I've been doing it for 2 days now. So far, a few of the chalazion (chalazia?) have popped on their own. I'm going to keep doing this every night before bed & hope they're all gone within the next few days.

By the way, I found all needed items on Amazon. Activated Charcoal powder, ground flaxseed. IMPORTANT: Do not mix activated Charcoal with anything metal. The Charcoal will pull the the impurities from the metal.

To treat a chalazion, I opened up an activated charcoal capsule, mixed with hot water, put on bump left for 30 seconds or so, washed off with baby shampoo and hot cloth. Noticed a big difference immediately. I thought to do this because it works with my white head zits, so thought to give it a try. After a few days, the bump was almost entirely gone. Someone else on this page mentioned a charcoal poultice too. Charcoal is known to absorb toxins, 5 times its own weight.

My daughter who is five years old has had a chalazion for a couple of years. I did all that I read to do; used warm compresses and washed eye out, etc, but did not seem to help. I bought over the counter natural allergy drops for the eyes and it is clearing up very nicely!

Had a HUGE stye that turned into a chalazion and I was going at it hard with the hot compresses (4-5 times a day, at least 15 minutes at a time). This only made it get bigger. One thing to keep in mind is that heat increases sebum (oil) production in hair follicles, including the follicles of lashes. This can cause the follicles near the chalazion to clog up and impede drainage.

There's a good chance my follicles were already clogged by the huge stye my chalazion started out as. The excessive heat didn't help matters. Anyways, I decided to lay off the heat, just applying a compress twice a day, for 10 min at morning and 10 min at night.

I use the eye mask you can put in the microwave—it stays warm and you can easily re-heat. I bought mine from an optometry clinic but you can probably find one on Amazon. Anyways, I reduced compress use to 10 minutes at morning and night, followed by gentle pressure with cu-tip against the chalazion (as well as rolling it down the cyst toward the lash line).

In between doing this, so about 5 times a day, applied Apple cider vinegar with the “mother“ using a cu-tip. Dipped q-tip in vinegar, touched it against Kleenex so it wasn't dripping wet, then rolled q-tip over cyst and massaged gently into cyst, for about a minute. Got as close to the lash line as possible without getting any in my eye.

Chalazion is gradually shrinking (took a few days to notice a difference) and the lash follicles near the chalazion that had been filling with oil are draining as well.

In addition to the vinegar it's probably important to not overdo it with the heat. Too much heat also likely causes some inflammation and swelling which will just keep the silly thing from draining or make it worse. I would suggest at least try going down to warm compress 2-3 times a day, 10 minutes at a time, and use the vinegar.

It is absolutely working for me!!

All those warm compresses, tea bags and massage did nothing for my chalazion. But Apple Cider vinegar made a HUGE difference in 2 days. It's now day 4 after ACV directly on a qtip about 4 times a day and it's almost gone. Thank goodness for this site - I was considering surgery since this little bugger wouldn't respond to anything else, and hearing people's terrible experiences made me try this as a last resort. TOTALLY WORKS! Use organic acv with the mother, I just put a few drops with an eyedropper and hold/wipe for a minute or two and then done!

Hi,

I had a chalazion and I had surgery for it. After few months I got another chalazion in the same eye, but I do not want to go for any surgery now. I read about ACV and I started fermenting my eye with it and also drank it once a day. The chalazion has minimized a lot but when I stop using ACV fermentation it pops up again. What should I do to remove it permanently but not surgecally.

I initially tried the Castor Oil treatment for my chalazion and it seemed to be working, however it was very slow. So, I switched over to the apple cidar vinegar and the results were amazing! My eye lid went from swollen like a black eye to a what looked like a pimple on my eye lid. To barely noticeable dark lid in 3 days. I took a q tip swab dipped into the Apple Cidar Vinegar and dadded my right eye lid lightly making sure not to get it in my eye and on top of the swollen bump, 3 times a day. I did not drink any of the vinegar, so I know it works with just direct application. I love Apple Cider Vinegar.

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!

I have had success with ACV and warm compresses for chalazion. (I began using castor oil but had no success.) At first I diluted the ACV with water because some on this site said that the ACV would burn, but I had no success until I used the ACV full strength. I would apply the ACV with a cotton swab/Q-tip, being careful to not let it drip into my eye. I would apply it several times a day, always with a clean cotton swab. I also used warm compresses five or six times, each morning. Eventually, I stopped using the ACV and applied warm compresses occasionally. I began using full strength ACV about four to five weeks ago. The chalazion is almost gone.

I was also drinking ACV in a glass of water each day, so I do not know if that may have been a factor as well.

I wanted to post to give a thumbs up for apple cider vinegar with the "mother" to treat chalazia. My first chalazion was on my right upper lid and was there for the better part of a year. I halfheartedly tried a variety of home remedies to get rid of it when it first cropped up, but since it wasn't all that visible and I work from home so have no need to get dolled up very often, I ultimately gave up and just left it alone. One morning it was just not there anymore, which I was very happy about.

A few months later, however, another chalazion appeared, this time on the lower lid of my left eye. This one was quite visible, and not in a good way. I tried the warm compresses, etc., but nothing was happening, so I made an appt with an ophthalmologist to get confirmation it was a chalazion and to see what he suggested. He suggested warm compresses using a hard-boiled egg wrapped in a damp facecloth. The egg sort of fits nicely into the eye socket and maybe touches more of the eye or something. I made a follow-up appt for 2 wks later, and went home to start the egg compresses. Meanwhile, the doc was going to get an authorization from my insurance to lance the thing if I had no luck with the egg.

So I did the egg compress quite diligently 3-6 times a day - so diligently that I created a little burn on my face below the chalazion. Sigh. I wasn't seeing much progress, so as my follow-up appt got closer and I knew I'd be getting the thing lanced, I decided as a last resort to try apple cider vinegar on the inside of my eyelid, knowing it would burn (I've gotten ACV in my eye before by mistake), but figuring it wouldn't be any worse than a needle.

So for a few days, before I did the egg compress, I poured a tiny bit of ACV in the bottle cap and dipped a Q-tip in it, then pulled my lower lid away from my eyeball, and dabbed the Q-tip with the ACV on the inside of the lid, then waited for the burning to subside. Then I did it again if I felt brave. I also swiped the Q-tip over the bump as well. Then I'd do the warm egg compress for several minutes, and roll the egg over the chalazion in sort of a massaging motion.

A couple days of that routine, and my left eye started producing yellow gunk, which I assumed was the oil finally being released from the chalazion, and the bump started to shrink. It's not all the way gone yet, but I feel good enough about the progress I'm making that I'm going to cancel my follow-up appt and continue the ACV and egg compresses until the chalazion is completely flat.

I'm hoping the skin over the chalazion will return to it's normal color and texture at some point, because right now it's rather discolored and puffy. (And not in a good way! )

Hi!

I usually don't post things on the internet, however this site saved me from my quite big chalazion on my upper eyelid. I had it for about two months and my husband insisted I get it operated, I made my doctors appointment, and because it was three weeks away I wanted to try some home remedies to avoid the operation. I started with warm compresses, then read posts on this site and included ACV...little in a cup with warm water and on the eyelid with a cotton-ball and made sure just a little got in my eye, but very little, cause it hurts! First nothing, my skin on the eyelid just got burned, and got swollen pretty bed...so I said this doesn't work and stopped the compressing and just put in a few drops of physiological solution every few hours. Two days later I was sleeping and as I woke up, I could hardly open my eye. I rushed into the bathroom and see that my chalazion was finally unblocked...so I continued compressing, ACV and phys. solution...it has not been a full week and it is almost gone completely, and it was really big. So I gladly cancelled my doctors appointment. So I don't know exactly what really made my chalazion disappear, maybe a combination of the three "remedies", but it got better really fast when I started with ACV, and I was not really constant with it, maybe one or two times a day for about ten minutes, I also put some ACV directly on the chalazion with a q-tip.

Don't over do it, because it will burn your skin.

So this is my story and I hope it will help somebody else, but just a warning, when you attack your chalazion stay home, because when it prepares to open up, you look like somebody punched you in the eye...at least me, my eyelid was really swollen and red...so it was a good thing I didn't plan any outings ;)

Good luck!

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

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.

Apple cider vinegar works!! My five year old son has been dealing with a chalazion for over a year with no help from compresses or medicine. We started applying a sterile gauze pad dunked into a 1/2 Apple Cider Vinegar (with the mother) and 1/2 hot water mix twice a day and changes were instant! It has been about three weeks now and every day it gets a little flatter and less swollen. Thank you to everyone who posted their success stories. Our little guy has finally gotten some relief! :)

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!