| 5 star (23) | 85% | |
| 4 star (2) | 7% | |
 (2) | 7% |
Darlene (Bozeman MT USA) on 02/13/2024: 
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!
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.
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:
Christina (Westchester, Ny) on 02/13/2018:
Soumya Gupta (India) on 09/26/2017: 
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.
Meredith (Co) on 06/15/2017:
Better But With Side Effects
Jasmine (Atl, Georgia) on 02/16/2017:
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!
Barbara (Aiken, South Carolina) on 12/23/2016:
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.
Janc1955 (Las Vegas, Nv) on 12/17/2016:
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! )
Tejak (Ljubljana, Slovenia) on 09/22/2016:
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!
Minda (London) on 09/12/2016:
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
Jessica (Oldsmar) on 10/05/2015:
Rich (Southern California) on 08/13/2015:
In addition to hot compresses I have made my own eye drops using distilled water diluting a few pinches of Himalyan Salt to create the perfect eye drops atleast 10 x per day. I don't want my left eye to feel neglected so I do it in both eyes to be fair and balanced ... I'm weird that way ... and the past week have also added a few drops of pharmaceutical grade DMSO to the eye drop solution AND a few drops of ACV! WOW! The results have been amazing! It burns a little at first, however, there is no damage whatsoever to the eye. Gunky stuff coming out and when I first wake up even more so. Drops go right in to cleanse that stuff out. I actually look forward to using them now ...yep, weird again ... :) It is something else to see how our bodies can heal. It is down to about the size of a small pea and will soon be down to a piece of rice. I am thinking I will continue to make this a ritual for maintenance and perhaps start drinking some as well. I know ... weird again ... but hey, who knows?
Thx again! I never knew about the many healing aspects of using ACV ~ pure liquid gold baby!
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!
Kimber (Vancouver) on 07/07/2015:
Sandi (California) on 05/01/2014:
John (New York) on 03/24/2014:
Joe (Australia) on 03/17/2014:
I have suffered from chalazions in the past and as a teacher, my students are relentless in reminding me of my massive red, wok eye. Last time it occurred it stuck around for a month and a half before I bit the bullet and went to the doctors. He found it quite amusing and prescribed two different types of eye drops. They didn't work. It took almost 3 months for the redness to go away.
A few weeks ago I could feel another one coming on and sure enough within three days my eye was massive and painful. At this point I hit the panic button as My brother is getting married very soon and I am the best man. I found this website and after reading all the comments about apple cider vinegar, I went to war the next day.
As directed each morning I drank two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar (organic with the mother) I then used a hot compress with apple cider vinegar on in at least five times a day. I also used a Q tip to dab some vinegar directly on the inner eye lid. Did this sting? yes. Was it necessary? Jury is still out. As well as this I bought a bottle of colloidal silver and sprayed a few drops in to the eye and my mouth each morning.
Well, after three days I could see the difference and within a week the redness was gone. It really worked!
I still have a tiny bump under the eye lid but hopefully that will go away in good time
Frances (London, Uk) on 07/09/2013:
Frances (London, United Kingdom) on 07/05/2013:
I'm a 23 year old female suffering from bad hay fever, under a lot of stress recently following 8 months of job hunting and family issues. These past few weeks I have had a very poor diet with a high sugar intake and lots of caffeine. I was rubbing my eyes a lot to relieve the itchiness of the hay fever. Last week, I woke up feeling like my upper eyelid on my left eye had been punched in the night and now bruised: looking in the mirror, the eyelid was swollen to twice the size of the other eye, and was red in colour. The whole eyelid up to the browbone was extremely painful when I touched it, and a definite lump was forming under the eyelid. Also, the eye would only open half way. With a big job interview coming up and my birthday a few days away, my heart sank.
I waited for 4 hours to see the Eye Specialist in the local Eye Clinic, who said I had a chalazion and that they would surgically remove it by incision after 2 weeks, and that I should "put hot water on it" in the meantime (he refused to elaborate). I was prescribed eyedrops containing 1% chloramphenicol and instructed to use once daily for the next fortnight. Looking online, I was very disinclined to have surgery, as I am very squeamish and also, many people reported having further chalazions as little as weeks after the op. Days passed, and the swelling got redder and larger.
I read up about chalazions thoroughly online and especially on Earth Clinic, and decided a lifestyle change was in order. After readings hundreds of testimonials, I decided that apple cider vinegar was the most likely option.
Here was my regimen:
1. I bought a bottle of organic apple cider vinegar, making sure to find one 'with the mother' as this is said to be the most effective sort.
2. I put 2 tsp apple cider vinegar in cup (100ml) of very hot (near boiling) water, and used cotton wool to soak a little up. I then held it against my eye for a good minute or two, before gently moving the pad down away from the nose. I did this 3 times a day that week.
3. Later in the day, I would use green and black tea bags as hot compresses, and these seemed to help the swelling. I did this 3 times a day also.
4. Also, I started drinking 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar in a pint of warm water twice a day.
5. I completely cut out sugar, alcohol and fast food.
This regimen completely CURED my chalazion in the space of 5 days - I woke up on the 3rd day with a small amount of yellow gunk holding my eye shut, but it easily washed away and my eye looked better. Each day for 4 days I would find this gunk in my eyelashes, and would wash it away to reveal my eyelid becoming less and less irritated and red. Success!
Slowly and surely, sticking to the above regimen, my eye got better and I didn't need the horrible surgery. I would say that putting apple cider vinegar on a HOT water covered cotton pad was doubly effective, as it sped up the healing process. I have continued to drink the Apple Cider Vinegar since then, and am a sworn Apple Cider Vinegar fan ever since.
Sammy (Kuwait) on 03/14/2013:
However, I soak an ear pad the one you clean your ear with and apply it directly to the chalazion. It stings for a while but after that it sort of pulls the pus in the chalazion and allows it to float on top of it forming a head. From here the chalazion oozes and become smaller and smaller each day. I apply Garlic Vinigar on it not apple cider. Anyhow I think any form of vinigar will work.
Thanks so much for this as my chalazion is disappearing thanks to you ;)
Sammy from Kuwait
Jennifer (Arlington, Tx) on 08/17/2012:
Sheila (San Diego, Ca) on 09/05/2011:
There is no more exterior trace of the chalazion. The only evidence I see is a tiny, darker pink spot in the interior side of the lower lid where the chalazion had been.
Take care not to overdue with soaking the cottonball, the ACV will sting if it gets into your eye--the cottonball shouldn't be sopping wet. Just one quick swipe across each eye, and then tone the rest of your face with the cottonball.
Oh yes! Start taking supplements that will help you maintain eye health.
