★★★★★
1. What Worked for Me: I used Indian clay mask, which I had on hand. While I would have preferred bentonite clay for its medicinal properties, the Indian clay did the trick. I mixed it with a bit of water to achieve a medium-thick paste. Each night, before bed, I applied this paste to my entire eyelid, though I think targeting just the bump would have sufficed. Sometimes, I even used it as a face mask!
In the morning, I gently removed the clay with a clean cotton pad soaked in comfortably warm water (instead of a warm compress, which had previously irritated my eye). After removing the clay, I used a tightly wound Q-tip—avoiding the fuzzy kind—to apply apple cider vinegar (ACV) directly to the bump. I poured a little ACV into a separate container for this purpose. I followed this routine for about a week, noticing improvement within three days and significant reduction in the bump by days five to six. Although I can no longer see the bump, I plan to continue for a day or two for good measure.
As a note, I'm a melanated (dark-skinned) African American woman, I say this because it is harder to notice discoloration on my skin due to my complexion and I did observe some slight discoloration on my eyelid from the ACV, so be mindful of potential discoloration and irritation especially if you are a lighter complexion.
2. My Logic: From my understanding, a chalazion is caused by trapped oils in the eyelid that fail to exit through the eyelashes. I found that many others reported success with ACV, which I imagined might dry out the oils causing the chalazion. While ACV alone was slightly irritating for me, combining it with the clay seemed effective.
3. My Experience with a Chalazion
I decided to try a clay mask over the bump on my eyelid. My logic was that clay is often used for acne because it can clear toxins and absorb excess oils. Since the skin is a large organ capable of both expelling and absorbing substances, I thought the clay might help with any trapped oils or bacteria. While I can't say for sure if my hypothesis was correct, I can say that the bump on my lid has vanished!
4. Backstory: One morning, I noticed a small bump on my upper right eyelid, about the size of a grain of rice. Thankfully, it was on my lid and not my eye, and there was no pain or irritation. After researching, I discovered it was likely a chalazion, as described in a YouTube video by a doctor. He suggested that if the bump was less than a week old, it might resolve on its own with warm compresses and gentle massaging. However, that didn't work for me.
I then sought out another video that explained the correct way to massage the eyelid—from the brow down toward the eyelashes. While this method made sense, it still didn't help. Feeling frustrated, I turned to Earth Clinic and saw many people had success with apple cider vinegar (ACV), but I didn't see much improvement with that either. It was at this point I decided to try the clay mask, as previously mentioned.
While I continued using ACV on a Q-tip for the bump, I eventually stopped for the last three days, as it seemed the clay was the primary factor in my improvement.
Summary of Thoughts:
1. The clay mask was the most effective treatment for me, more so than the ACV.
2. I believe bentonite clay might have been even more effective due to its known medicinal properties, but the Indian clay worked well enough.
3. Toward the end of the week, I mixed the vinegar with the clay mask and water, which seemed to enhance the results.
4. I also tried using witch hazel once instead of vinegar, but I switched back to ACV for consistency, so I can't draw any conclusions about that.
Conclusion: Navigating health issues can often feel isolating, but it's important to remember that you're not alone. Many people are facing similar challenges, and sharing our experiences can help others. I'm not a doctor, but I wanted to share what worked for me in hopes it may help someone else. If you've read this far, thank you for sticking with me!
