Is Lid Scrubbing Suppose to Hurt? :/

[Rebecca Petris]

When I scrub (for maybe ten-fifteen seconds, with medium pressure), whether I do it with a cotton swab and baby shampoo, or with commercial scrubbing pads, I end up with irritated eye lids that make my eyes feel much worse. They feel better at first, then worse and worse over the course of the day. I hear you have to scrub hard. Others say you must be gentle. Anyone knows which it is? It's a pain (literally), and I may be making the problem worse instead of better.

Be gentle, IMHO. It is very easy to overdo eyelid care, which is counterproductive.

If you get irritated lids, I think there may be several possible explanations:
- Scrubbing too hard.
- Cleansing too frequently.
- Using too harsh an agent. Many of us cannot tolerate baby shampoo. It can irritate the lids and the eyes.
- Using too harsh a 'delivery mechanism'. Again, depends on the person. Lidscrub pads are too harsh for my eyelids - I prefer fingertips only - but work well for other people.

Also just to clarify... I think we need to make a distinction between "scrubbing" i.e. cleansing the lid/lash area - which should definitely be done gently - and massaging or expressing the glands, though the two things can be combined. For those who need a lot of pressure in order to clear the glands, personally I think this should be done by a professional or with training from a professional.

[Rick]

have you tried...wrapping a supranette (or other sterile lid wipe) around your index finger...

Wow. I'll have to try it now. I noticed that using a Q-tip on your upper eyelid is really tricky. The baby shampoo goes into my eyes and burn and the lid is especially sensitive there. Maybe your method will work better.

By the way, doing a search for Supranette, I found a little demonstration for lid scrubbing using a Q-tip (small video but cool):

http://www.edinburgh-eyetests.co.uk/meibomian.htm

[Rory]

have you tried...wrapping a supranette (or other sterile lid wipe) around your index finger....and then moving your finger across the complete length of your eyelid back and forth up to 15 times (from nose to ear obviously).

This removes the need for baby shampoo and cotton buds and can be done anytime or anywhere or perhaps after using a lid scrub such as sterilid or ocusoft.

Of course everyone is different but i find this 100 times more practical and alot more effective than the baby shampoo/cotton bud option.

[Stanza]

I can't even see the holes of my meobian glands in the mirror.

me neither, I hoped that was normal!!!!

I'd been doing scrubs last week and then my eyes got worse for a few days so I've lightened up on how I'm doing them, I'm being way more gentle now. Figure that each of us has to maybe find the right amount of pressure??

[Rick]

When I scrub (for maybe ten-fifteen seconds, with medium pressure), whether I do it with a cotton swab and baby shampoo, or with commercial scrubbing pads, I end up with irritated eye lids that make my eyes feel much worse. They feel better at first, then worse and worse over the course of the day. I hear you have to scrub hard. Others say you must be gentle. Anyone knows which it is? It's a pain (literally), and I may be making the problem worse instead of better.

By the way, I can't even see the holes of my meobian glands in the mirror. And one optometrist told me she couldn't see them either. Yikes! My opthalmologist never mentioned a thing. Go figure.

Thanks!