Eyelid cyst/ chalazion for months, not going away...Any experience with that?

[simone_]

Hi,
I have blepharitis and my melbomiam glands also are not working as they should and I have dry eye. Last year I developed a smallish knot on my right upper eyelid right in the center. The doctor and he said it wasn't bad. It has been a year since. I went to another doctor last month, he looked and said " oh can't do nothing about it" . It was a waste of visit. But latelly the knot became more of a bump, and this week Is feeling my eyelid feels a little sore. From all I have read, I read that this thing should go away by itself, and it can take a long time. But I wonder why the docts don't remove this right away here?

13 years ago I had a big bump on the other eyelid. I was in South america and I got surgery right away. I endedup with a black eye for sometime but after all, my eyelid went back to normal. But here in the US, I noticed that the doctors don't recommend surgery right away...I'm getting a new appointment,but I'd like to know how do you guys deal with it.

[Rui]

I started to get chalazions back in the beginning of 2008 and they lasted until around middle of 2010. Some of them took about a year to dissapear, maybe more. As far as my experience goes I can only say everything I tried to get rid of them was unsuccessful. Very intensive redness on eyelids came along with them and blepharitis was also given as a diagnosis. I've done everything doctors advised me to do (warm compresses, ointments, drops, oral antibiotics and even oral prednisolone, etc) to no avail. I perfectly remember that using compresses made everything worse. I eventually gave up on any treatment and they started to dissapear months later. Guess they had a course of their own. My eyelids were so wrecked and the last chalazions even left permanent scars on them. They were also very painful to touch. I now don't have any chalazion now, but I'm still battling with blepharitis. Interestingly I can now use compresses and feel some benefit on doing it for my MGD.

I've been battling RCE on my right eye for the last year which I *presume* was a "colateral" damage...

[Irina2]

Hi Simone,

The initial regimen for treating early chalazion includes warm compresses, massages, lid hygiene and an antibiotic/steroid combination ointment. Many chalazions resolve with this treatment over 10-14 days. If the chalazion persists longer than 2-4 weeks, incision and drainage is recommended as the next step in treatment. The treatment plan needs to be individualized based on your eye exam, symptoms and individual treatment preferences including pain, discomfort and cosmesis. You need to talk to your doctor and make a decision together to find the best solution for you. Make sure you get a thorough exam and be sure to talk to your eye doctor about your symptoms, history of previous eye surgery in South America and your expectation now.

Hope it helps.

Sincerely,
Irina Ganelis, M.D.
http://LosAngelesEyeInstitute.com

[MaryVa61]

I had a chalazion back in Dec., with many other eye problems simultaneously. I got the problems about 80% under control in a few months. What I learned that helped:

Warm compresses helped a lot, but only slightly warm (I started out too warm) and only for about 2-4 minutes, so they don't over-dry the eye. Works best right before washing the face and doing lid cleaning.

My prior lid cleansing method wasn't effective, just using warm tap water on Q-tip. It helped much when switched to Occusoft Plus foaming lid cleanser. Tried other products but appear to have been sensitive to them or they just didn't work for me so no improvement with the others. It's important to experiment to find the right technique and product.

It's not good to use Acular or other similar drops on an ongoing maintenance basis. I'd been on it 2-4 times per day for 14 years! However, going off it causes a flare up of symptoms before things then calm down and improve. The doctor had a name for that reaction but I don't remember it now.

I was allergic to most of the things I was using in my eyes (rx and OTC) in addition to my shampoo, conditioner, cleansers, moisturizers, cosmetics, and household cleaning products and laundry detergent. Hadn't realized it because they are type IV allergies and the reaction take a day to show up and lasts for a few days. Since I was exposed daily, that means I was reacting 24/7, so never saw a pattern of flare-ups right after exposure or I would have suspected an allergy. I didn't respond to Zaditor (to test whether it helped and therefore was allergy) because I'm very sensitive to BAK which is in Zaditor. I think Zaditor only works on type I allergy anyway, but not sure. I bought about 15 different eye lubricating products to try before figuring out what ingredients I was sensitive to in them. My chalazion seemed to be mostly caused by my allergy problem, rather than my other eye problems.

My dry eye problem was much worse than my prior doc or I had realized. Suggestions of this group have helped tremendously with that. The dryness made my eyes more sensitive to all of the irritants, allergens, medication side effects...Had to get that dryness under control too.

I'm so glad I didn't have to get surgery, but would certainly have done it if that's what would have helped. Good luck to you in finding help.