Most styes clear up on their own within one to two weeks, but warm compresses are the single most effective way to speed that process along. A stye is a small, painful bump that forms when a gland or hair follicle at the edge of your eyelid gets infected. While the urge to squeeze or pop it can be strong, the best approach is patience combined with consistent at-home care.
Warm Compresses Are the Main Treatment
A warm, damp cloth held against your closed eyelid is the cornerstone of stye treatment. The heat increases blood flow to the area, helps the blocked gland open, and encourages the stye to drain naturally. Hold the compress against your eyelid for 2 to 5 minutes at a time. The water should be as warm as you can comfortably handle without burning yourself. You can repeat this many times throughout the day, up to 20 times if you’re able.
A clean washcloth soaked in warm water works fine. Some people prefer a microwavable eye mask or a warm tea bag, which hold heat longer. Whichever you choose, make sure it’s clean each time. As the stye softens over a few days, it will often drain on its own. Once it drains, the pain and swelling typically resolve quickly.
Don’t Pop or Squeeze a Stye
It looks like a pimple, and it’s tempting to treat it like one. But squeezing a stye can push the infection deeper into your eyelid or spread it to surrounding tissue. The risks include severe infection, scarring or permanent discoloration of the eyelid skin, and damage to the surface of your eye (a corneal abrasion). Let the stye open and drain on its own, helped along by the warm compresses.
Keep the Area Clean
While you have a stye, gentle eyelid hygiene matters. Wash your hands before touching anything near your eyes. You can clean the eyelid with a mild, tear-free soap or diluted baby shampoo on a cotton pad, gently wiping along the lash line. Avoid wearing eye makeup until the stye has fully healed, since mascara and eyeliner can reintroduce bacteria and clog the glands again.
If you wear contact lenses, switch to glasses until the stye resolves. Contacts can irritate the area and harbor bacteria, making the infection harder to clear. Once the bump is completely gone and any tenderness has faded, it’s safe to go back to your lenses.
Stye vs. Chalazion
Not every bump on your eyelid is a stye, and knowing the difference matters because the timeline and treatment can vary. A stye is painful, often appears right at the eyelid’s edge near the lash line, and can make the entire eyelid swell. It’s caused by a bacterial infection in either a lash follicle (external stye) or an oil gland inside the eyelid (internal stye).
A chalazion, on the other hand, is usually not painful. It tends to develop farther back on the eyelid, away from the lash line, and is caused by a clogged oil gland rather than an active infection. A chalazion can actually start as an internal stye that didn’t fully resolve. Chalazia are generally slower to go away and more likely to need medical intervention if they persist. Warm compresses help with both, but if your bump is painless and growing, it’s more likely a chalazion than a stye.
When Antibiotics Come Into Play
Most styes don’t need antibiotics. Warm compresses alone are usually enough. However, if the infection seems to be spreading, with increasing redness, swelling beyond the bump itself, or crusting along the lash line, a doctor may prescribe an antibiotic ointment to apply to the eyelid margin. These ointments are typically used two to four times daily for one to two weeks. The evidence that topical antibiotics speed healing of a simple stye is actually limited, so they’re mainly reserved for cases where a secondary bacterial infection is suspected.
What Happens if a Stye Won’t Go Away
If your stye hasn’t improved after two weeks of consistent warm compresses, or if it keeps coming back, a doctor can perform a minor in-office procedure to drain it. This involves numbing the area with a local anesthetic, making a small incision over the bump, and gently expressing the contents with a small instrument called a curette. The procedure is quick and the recovery is straightforward. You’ll typically have some antibiotic ointment applied to the area afterward, and the swelling resolves over the following days.
Styes that recur frequently can signal an underlying issue like chronic eyelid inflammation (blepharitis) or skin conditions like rosacea. If you’re getting styes more than a couple of times a year, it’s worth having your eyelids evaluated to address the root cause rather than treating each stye individually.
Preventing Styes From Coming Back
The bacteria that cause styes live naturally on your skin, so complete prevention isn’t realistic. But a few habits lower your risk significantly. Wash your hands before touching your eyes. Replace eye makeup every few months, especially mascara, and never share it. Remove all eye makeup before bed. If you’re prone to styes, a nightly routine of gently cleaning your lash line with a warm, damp cloth can keep the oil glands from clogging in the first place.