A stye looks like a small, red, painful bump along the edge of your eyelid, usually right at the base of an eyelash. It resembles a pimple or a boil, and it’s tender to the touch. If you’ve noticed a sore spot on your eyelid that appeared quickly, possibly overnight, and it’s swollen with a visible bump, you’re likely dealing with a stye.
What a Stye Looks and Feels Like
The hallmark sign is a localized, pus-filled bump right at the eyelid margin. The skin around it turns red and swollen, and the area is noticeably tender when you touch it or blink. In some cases the swelling stays small and focused; in others, your entire eyelid puffs up.
Beyond the visible bump, you may notice several other sensations:
- A scratchy or gritty feeling, as if something is stuck in your eye
- Extra tearing from the affected eye
- Crusting along the eyelid, especially after sleeping
- Light sensitivity
- Itching or soreness around the bump
- Discharge from the eye
The pain tends to be worst in the first couple of days, right as the bump is forming. A stye can develop overnight or build over a few days, and most reach their peak size within the first two to three days.
External vs. Internal Styes
Not all styes look exactly the same, because they can form in different glands within your eyelid.
An external stye is the more common type. It develops in the small oil glands right at the base of your eyelashes, producing a visible, superficial pustule on the outer edge of the lid. The pain and swelling stay concentrated in one small area, and you can typically see the white or yellowish head of the bump clearly.
An internal stye forms deeper inside the eyelid, in larger oil glands embedded in the tissue. Because the affected gland is bigger and sits farther from the surface, internal styes cause more widespread tenderness and redness across the lid. You might not see a defined bump on the outside at all. Instead, the inner surface of the eyelid looks red and swollen, and the discomfort feels more diffuse. Flipping your eyelid gently in front of a mirror can sometimes reveal the swollen area underneath.
Why Styes Happen
Styes are bacterial infections. The culprit is almost always Staphylococcus aureus, a common bacterium that lives on skin and in nasal passages. Your eyelid margins contain tiny oil glands that help lubricate the surface of your eye. When one of those glands gets clogged, bacteria can multiply inside, triggering the infection and inflammation that produce the bump.
The bacteria thrive on the lipid-rich secretions these glands produce. Cholesterol released from the gland’s natural oils actually stimulates bacterial growth, which is why a blocked gland can escalate into an infection quickly. Things that increase your risk include touching your eyes with unwashed hands, leaving eye makeup on overnight, using old or contaminated cosmetics, and having a history of blepharitis (chronic eyelid inflammation that clogs oil glands more frequently).
Stye or Chalazion: How to Tell the Difference
The bump you’re looking at might be a chalazion instead of a stye. The key difference is pain. A stye hurts. It’s tender to touch, red, and inflamed from the start. A chalazion is a firm, painless nodule that develops more slowly when a blocked oil gland becomes chronically inflamed without an active infection.
Sometimes a stye that doesn’t fully resolve turns into a chalazion. The infection clears, the tenderness goes away, but a hard, round lump remains in the eyelid. If you have a bump that’s been there for weeks but doesn’t hurt, that’s more consistent with a chalazion than an active stye.
How Long a Stye Lasts
Most styes resolve on their own within one to two weeks. The standard home treatment is a warm compress: a clean washcloth soaked in warm water, held against the closed eyelid for 10 to 15 minutes, three or four times a day. The heat helps the clogged gland open and drain. You can gently massage the area after applying the compress to encourage this.
Avoid squeezing or popping a stye. Forcing it open can spread the infection deeper into the eyelid tissue. Let it drain on its own. Once it does, the pain and swelling typically improve rapidly over the next day or two.
If a stye hasn’t started to improve after about a week of consistent warm compresses, or if it’s getting worse rather than better, a healthcare provider can evaluate whether you need additional treatment. A doctor diagnoses a stye simply by looking at the eyelid, sometimes using a light and magnifying tool. No blood tests or imaging are needed for a straightforward case.
Signs the Infection Is Spreading
A typical stye stays contained in one small area and resolves without complications. Rarely, the infection can spread beyond the eyelid into the surrounding tissue, a condition called cellulitis. Watch for these warning signs:
- Redness and swelling spreading well beyond the original bump, across the eyelid or onto the cheek
- Fever
- Pain when moving your eye
- Changes in vision, including blurriness or decreased sight
- The eye itself bulging forward
- Difficulty moving the eye in any direction
These symptoms suggest the infection may have moved into the eye socket, which is a medical emergency. Orbital cellulitis can progress to vision loss or, in extreme cases, spread to the brain. This level of complication from a stye is uncommon, but the consequences are serious enough that any of those symptoms warrant immediate care.