Beegirl (Macon, GA) on 10/20/2024
1. What Worked for Me: I used Indian clay mask, which I had on hand. While I would have preferred bentonite clay for its medicinal properties, the Indian clay did the trick. I mixed it with a bit of water to achieve a medium-thick paste. Each night, before bed, I applied this paste to my entire eyelid, though I think targeting just the bump would have sufficed. Sometimes, I even used it as a face mask!
In the morning, I gently removed the clay with a clean cotton pad soaked in comfortably warm water (instead of a warm compress, which had previously irritated my eye). After removing the clay, I used a tightly wound Q-tip—avoiding the fuzzy kind—to apply apple cider vinegar (ACV) directly to the bump. I poured a little ACV into a separate container for this purpose. I followed this routine for about a week, noticing improvement within three days and significant reduction in the bump by days five to six. Although I can no longer see the bump, I plan to continue for a day or two for good measure.
As a note, I’m a melanated (dark-skinned) African American woman, I say this because it is harder to notice discoloration on my skin due to my complexion and I did observe some slight discoloration on my eyelid from the ACV, so be mindful of potential discoloration and irritation especially if you are a lighter complexion.
2. My Logic: From my understanding, a chalazion is caused by trapped oils in the eyelid that fail to exit through the eyelashes. I found that many others reported success with ACV, which I imagined might dry out the oils causing the chalazion. While ACV alone was slightly irritating for me, combining it with the clay seemed effective.
3. My Experience with a Chalazion
I decided to try a clay mask over the bump on my eyelid. My logic was that clay is often used for acne because it can clear toxins and absorb excess oils. Since the skin is a large organ capable of both expelling and absorbing substances, I thought the clay might help with any trapped oils or bacteria. While I can’t say for sure if my hypothesis was correct, I can say that the bump on my lid has vanished!
4. Backstory: One morning, I noticed a small bump on my upper right eyelid, about the size of a grain of rice. Thankfully, it was on my lid and not my eye, and there was no pain or irritation. After researching, I discovered it was likely a chalazion, as described in a YouTube video by a doctor. He suggested that if the bump was less than a week old, it might resolve on its own with warm compresses and gentle massaging. However, that didn’t work for me.
I then sought out another video that explained the correct way to massage the eyelid—from the brow down toward the eyelashes. While this method made sense, it still didn’t help. Feeling frustrated, I turned to Earth Clinic and saw many people had success with apple cider vinegar (ACV), but I didn’t see much improvement with that either. It was at this point I decided to try the clay mask, as previously mentioned.
While I continued using ACV on a Q-tip for the bump, I eventually stopped for the last three days, as it seemed the clay was the primary factor in my improvement.
Summary of Thoughts:
1. The clay mask was the most effective treatment for me, more so than the ACV.
2. I believe bentonite clay might have been even more effective due to its known medicinal properties, but the Indian clay worked well enough.
3. Toward the end of the week, I mixed the vinegar with the clay mask and water, which seemed to enhance the results.
4. I also tried using witch hazel once instead of vinegar, but I switched back to ACV for consistency, so I can’t draw any conclusions about that.
Conclusion: Navigating health issues can often feel isolating, but it’s important to remember that you’re not alone. Many people are facing similar challenges, and sharing our experiences can help others. I’m not a doctor, but I wanted to share what worked for me in hopes it may help someone else. If you’ve read this far, thank you for sticking with me!
Darlene (Bozeman MT USA) on 02/13/2024
Claire (Michigan, USA) on 07/08/2023
+1 on the Castor Oil! I tried it based on the recommendations here. I put one drop directly on the nasty little lump and it loosened and drained that night. (I must say that the draining was a little gross looking)
Taty (Louisiana) on 03/06/2023
Do everything I mentioned twice a day every day and you will see results it may take a long time but my 5 year hard chalazion is completely gone. It took almost a year for it to go away completely it was hard and had been there for five years.
Chalazion takes a long time to go away, especially if you've had them for over a year and it's hardened. So be patient and continue.
bpang (Fairfax, VA) on 04/17/2022
I tried ACV for 5 days- it just burnt my eyelid and created 2 huge red marks on my eyelid. Haven't noticed any drainage yet.
Any advice or at home remedies would be greatly appreciated!
Health nut (NJ) on 02/10/2022
I had my chalazion for a couple of months and was trying different cures on and off (ex: ACV, castor oil, colloidal silver, etc) Nothing was as effective and fast as the saltwater rinse.
I did the saltwater rinse two to three times a day using an eyecup. Now my chalazion is hardly even noticeable and it's getting smaller every day. Thank God!
My recipe
1 teaspoon of sea salt dissolved in 1 cup of water. This recipe will last about a week.
I hope this helps anyone else with this problem. If not, everyone is different, so keep trying different natural remedies. Above all trust in God, He will guide you to the right cure.
Evan F. (Milwaukee) on 04/20/2021
Key is attacking them promptly. The puss oil will harden eventually, and at that point, surgery is the only real option. I used dish soap because it is the strongest surfactant I knew my eye could tolerate on a temporary basis. I do believe that enough hot soap water finally pushed up the pore into the blockage, which gave way.
Sue (North Carolina) on 04/15/2021
This year on day 1, I read on this site about ACV with the mother and did it 4 times a day plus once waking up in the middle of the night to apply it.
Each time I did heat for about 10 minutes (Bruder eye mask is great) followed by 4-5 minutes of a Q-tip dipped in ACV with the mother. The ACV seemed to really take the infection out. It's 3 days later and not gone but is improving well. I"m so relieved and thankful for the other writers who wrote so I'm adding in my experience. Hope it helps you too.
Kim (New South Wales) on 04/12/2021
I mixed castor oil (the old-fashioned type in a glass bottle from the Indian store that has been used safely in eyes for centuries that I happened to have) with pure teatree oil in a dropper bottle and after his morning shower, I applied 2 drops to his clean knuckles which he held together for me and he then touched his knuckles together to disperse before swiping one knuckle across each respective lashline of both his closed eyes to avoid cross contamination as the chalazion was only on his left eye. He also used his knuckles to massage the mixture into his lashlines.
At night before bed, he used Opti-Soothe mask (from pharmacy) for two consecutive 20mins after heating 20secs in the microwave following by the same oil-on-knuckle treatment. As stated in the article, after 12 weeks the chalazion disappeared and has not returned after four months.
Wish we had known this remedy before as over the decade, we wasted time and money on doctors every time it became embarrassingly conspicuous after other natural treatments just to be prescribed eyedrops that made no difference and referral to opthalmologist who recommended best to leave it alone as it may recur after surgery which is apparently very painful.
Mary (Tennessee) on 01/15/2021
My pharmacist told me he had the same thing and to take the herb and it was gone.
Carol (Demoines, Iowa) on 07/21/2020
In the end, I continued applying the castor oil to the chalazion and to the water line of my upper eyelid. Additionally, the action I believe most helpful, was the gentle pressure and washing of the eyelash area and upper water line (my chalazion was on the upper eyelid). I eventually tapered off the compressed after 1.5 months. I never thought it would go away. It was gone completely within 2.5 - 3 months. I prayed daily, and believed that the probiotic wash which I used to cleanse my upper eyelash area and the water line would heal the chalazion.
The ACV may have helped cleanse my system (I took 2T a day for a week, and the application to the chalazion, and getting it to crust may or may not have been helpful.) To this day, I continue the gentle eyelash and waterline cleansing. Nothing my doctor or opthamalogist prescribed or suggested helped. There are many probiotic washes on the market. Johnson's Baby Shampoo may be a viable option as well.
Best of luck to all of you struggling with this issue. It will go away when you find the solution that works for you. I persisted and researched weekly - with prayer! God bless all of you.
Treat for Demodex Mites Got Rid of Chalazions Miss M (New York) on 07/02/2020
Hope this helps others:
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!
Ivermectin Got Rid of Chalazion Tron (UK) on 07/01/2020
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.
Jay (Winnipeg, MB) on 06/30/2020
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!!
Asalt (Colorado) on 12/18/2018
Vinu (Shakopee) on 12/07/2018
Jina (Portland ) on 10/30/2018
My naturopath told us to do colloidal silver sprayed directly on to the eye 5 times a day for months. We also avoided eggs. And it treated the most gross looking stubborn stye I have ever seen. It did take a while, but this was a stye we had been battling for almost a year. Silver worked when nothing else did (so many different remedies mentioned tried). Now if we see one cropping up, we just do the silver sprays and it is gone by the next day or even as early as 1/2 day later. The most important part of it is that it really has to be 4-5 sprays/day. And the avoidance of eggs may be a crucial element as well.
Christa (West Bengal) on 07/14/2018
I have been doing warm compresses with salt. The chalazion gets small after the compresses but returns to its original size within a few minutes of the compresses. I have read about sea salt compresses and just started with. Not sure if it would help! Also started applying organic hexane free castor oil on the skin outside of the chalazion and light massages.
My chalazion keeps changing shape and consistency. Sometimes it's soft and sometimes it gets a little hard. But when I massage it with castor oil it's size decreases considerably for an instant and almost becomes flat but gets back its shape soon.
Has anyone else experienced this? I need some help please.
Anon (Usa) on 06/09/2018
Homeopathy Worked Well for Toddler With Chalazion Jaime (Austin, Tx) on 04/01/2018
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:
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
