“Popping” your eyes can mean a few different things depending on what brought you here. Some people are curious about the party trick where someone makes their eyeballs bulge forward. Others are dealing with a stye or bump near the eye they want to squeeze. And some are experiencing a pressure sensation behind their eyes that feels like they need to “pop” them the way you’d pop your ears. Each of these situations calls for very different advice.
The Party Trick: Voluntary Eye Bulging
Some people can voluntarily push their eyeballs forward in their sockets, a feat that looks dramatic but is largely determined by anatomy. The medical term for an eyeball slipping forward out of its normal position is globe luxation. People who can do this typically have shallower eye sockets or more flexible connective tissue holding the eye in place. Kim Goodman holds the Guinness World Record for the farthest eyeball pop, pushing her eyes 12 mm (about half an inch) beyond her eye sockets.
This ability isn’t something you can train or learn. It depends on the shape of your skull and the looseness of the tissues around your eyes. Trying to force it by pressing on your eyelids or straining is not a good idea, because the risks of pushing the eye too far forward are serious. When the eyeball displaces significantly, it stretches the optic nerve, the cable that carries visual information to your brain. Extreme displacement can sever nerve fibers entirely, causing permanent vision loss. Even brief displacement can scratch the cornea, and prolonged displacement cuts off blood flow to the eye, which can eventually cause the eye to shrink and lose function permanently.
If you’ve seen someone do this trick online and want to try it yourself, the honest answer is: if your anatomy doesn’t naturally allow it, you can’t make it happen safely. And even people whose anatomy does allow it are taking a risk each time they do it.
Popping a Stye or Bump Near Your Eye
If you have a red, painful bump on your eyelid and you’re wondering whether you can pop it like a pimple, the short answer is no. Styes are bacterial infections of the oil glands along your eyelid, and squeezing one can push bacteria deeper into the tissue or spread the infection to surrounding areas. The skin around your eyes is extremely thin and delicate, so squeezing can also cause scarring. In rare cases, bacteria from a popped stye can enter the bloodstream and cause a more widespread infection.
What actually works is a warm compress. Soak a clean washcloth in warm water, wring it out, and hold it against your closed eye for 10 to 15 minutes, several times a day. The heat helps the blocked gland open and drain on its own. Most styes resolve within a week or two with this approach. If a stye persists, grows larger, or starts affecting your vision, an eye doctor can drain it safely in a controlled setting.
That Pressure Feeling Behind Your Eyes
If your eyes feel like they need to “pop” the way your ears do on an airplane, the most common culprit is sinus congestion. Your sinuses are air-filled pockets that sit directly behind and around your eyes. When they become inflamed and swollen, mucus gets trapped and builds pressure that you feel most intensely around the eyes, cheeks, and forehead. This pressure typically gets worse when you bend over.
Sinus-related eye pressure usually accompanies a cold, allergies, or a sinus infection. Over-the-counter decongestants, saline nasal rinses, and steam inhalation can help relieve the pressure by promoting drainage. If the feeling lasts more than 10 days, or comes with a fever and thick, discolored nasal discharge, you may have a bacterial sinus infection that needs treatment.
When Eyes Bulge Involuntarily
Sometimes eyes push forward on their own, which is a different situation entirely. The most common medical cause is thyroid eye disease, which affects 25 to 50 percent of people with Graves’ disease. In this condition, immune system activity causes the muscles and fat behind the eye to swell, physically pushing the eyeball forward. Doctors measure this protrusion in millimeters. Values above roughly 18 to 20 mm on an instrument called a Hertel exophthalmometer are considered abnormal, though the exact threshold varies by population.
Mild cases may only cause a cosmetic change or dry eyes. More severe cases can compress the optic nerve, raise pressure inside the eye, or cause double vision. When the protrusion doesn’t respond to medication, orbital decompression surgery may be needed. This procedure involves removing or thinning small portions of the bony walls of the eye socket to give the swollen tissue more room. The lateral (outer) wall is typically addressed first because it carries the lowest risk. Complication rates vary by surgical approach, ranging from about 4 percent to nearly 16 percent depending on the technique used.
If you’ve noticed one or both eyes gradually becoming more prominent, especially if you also have symptoms like unexplained weight loss, a rapid heartbeat, or hand tremors, a thyroid condition could be the underlying cause.