Styes & Chalazions
Key overview
- A stye is an acute infection: it appears quickly, it hurts, and it usually points and drains.
- A chalazion is a blocked oil gland: it builds slowly, it is firm rather than tender, and it can persist for months.
- Both respond to heat, but a chalazion needs sustained, repeated heat over weeks to soften hardened contents.
- Recurrent styes or chalazions almost always signal underlying meibomian gland dysfunction or blepharitis.
A stye and a chalazion are both lumps on the eyelid and they are routinely confused, including by people who have had several. A stye is an acute infection of a gland or lash follicle: it appears quickly, it is painful, and it usually points and drains. A chalazion is what a blocked oil gland becomes when the blockage stays put: it builds slowly, it is firm rather than tender, and it can sit there for months.
The distinction matters because it changes what helps. Both respond to heat, but a chalazion needs sustained, repeated heat over weeks to soften hardened contents, while a stye is usually a shorter course.
Recurrent styes and chalazions are almost always a sign of underlying meibomian gland dysfunction or blepharitis. Treating the episode without treating the cause simply schedules the next one.
In this section
- Stye or chalazion? How to tell them apart — The distinction, and why it changes how long treatment takes.
- How to treat a stye at home — What clears it, how long it should take, and what makes it worse.
- A chalazion that won't go away — Why they persist, how long to keep going, and the options when heat is not enough.
- Why you keep getting styes — Recurrence is a symptom. What it points to and how to address it.
- Eyelid lumps: when to see a doctor — The signs that mean same-day care, and the ones that mean an appointment.
Guides in this section
1 articles, grouped by what they answer.
Where our products fit
Heat is the treatment for both styes and chalazions, and a chalazion in particular needs it sustained and repeated. This is the case a controlled-temperature mask is built for. E-Heated Eye Mask.
Related sections
- Meibomian Gland Dysfunction & Heat Therapy — The blocked-oil-gland mechanism behind most dry eye, and the heat therapy that treats it.
- Demodex & Blepharitis — Eyelid mites, inflamed lid margins, and the evidence behind treating them.
- Eyelid Hygiene — Cleaning the lid margin properly: why it matters, how to do it, and what to use.