#Warm vs hot compress for cyst skin

The majority of eyelid cysts settle with good, consistent heat and massage, and only a minority will need a minor operation. When should I consider a surgical option for a chalazion?

If the chalazion is skin-coloured and there is no fever, then a child’s chalazion can be treated in the same way as an adult’s, with heat and massage. This is not a common scenario, but if a child has a chalazion that is red, hot and sore, then you should seek medical help promptly. In children, however, the eyelid septum has not developed fully, and superficial infection may spread rapidly into the deeper eye socket and the brain.

In adults, the septum has developed fully, and this layer stops a superficial infection from spreading deeper into the tissues around the eyeball and, ultimately, the brain. The eyelid has several layers and one of those, the septum, separates the outer layers from the inner layers.

#Warm vs hot compress for cyst skin

It is essential that children with eyelid cysts who develop associated skin infections are assessed promptly for oral or intravenous antibiotics. However, the cyst still needs heat and massage. In these cases, oral antibiotics will help to settle the skin infection.

This can be more common in patients with diabetes or other chronic conditions pre-disposing them to infection, or for those with a suppressed immune system. In some cases, ophthalmologists associate a chalazion with infection spreading in the surrounding skin, a condition known as pre-septal cellulitis. If you have a fever, or redness that is spreading rapidly across the skin of your eyelid, then you need to see a doctor to consider oral antibiotic treatment. A spreading infection can cause a chalazion If your eyelid is very sore when you try to press or massage it, it is worth taking some paracetamol to help you tolerate the manipulation better. The discharge can be green, grey, white or bloodstained and you will often notice an immediate reduction in the size of the cyst when expressed. Your aim is to get the infected or stagnant contents to discharge onto the surface so that you can wipe them away. You should use your fingers to apply pressure to the cyst, massaging upwards if it is on the lower lid, or downwards if it is on the upper lid. After 1-2 minutes the duct opening should be more open and the trapped contents slightly softer and easier to express. Often people hold the flannel around the eye socket, but this is too far away from the affected area to be helpful. You will need to rewarm your flannel under the tap to achieve 60-90 seconds of heat and make sure you are holding it over the opening to the blocked duct or gland. Warm tap water is fine for heating the cloth, and it should feel soothingly warm rather than very hot. The key to doing lid heat and massage effectively is to aim for 1-2 minutes of heat and to use a cotton flannel or muslin, as they are thicker than cotton wool and will hold the heat for longer.

This will also soften the trapped material within the blocked duct, making it easier for it to be massaged out with gentle pressure. The key to getting rid of it as soon as possible is to apply heat directly to the affected lid to dilate the blocked gland opening. What is the easiest way to get rid of a chalazion? Applying heat The symptoms range from the nuisance of having a pea-sized lump on your eyelid to redness, pain and mucky discharge from the blocked gland. This causes the blocked tunnel to swell, become enlarged and distended and may in some cases cause infection to the surrounding layers of the skin. What is a chalazion?Ī chalazion can affect the upper or lower lids and occur because of blockages in the glands that open onto the eyelid margin or the base of the eyelashes. An eye cyst is also known as a chalazion, a stye or hordeolum. An eyelid cyst is a common reason why people seek advice from their GP or an ophthalmologist. Having a lump on your eyelid is not the worst eye problem you can suffer from, but it is annoying, can be uncomfortable and is often recurrent or persistent. The quickest and easiest way to get rid of a chalazion!