The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Tea
Posted by Candice (Victorville, CA) on 11/26/2008
★★★★★
Stye (I think that this might have an E but Im not sure)
I had a stye about a month ago and I tried putting tea on the stye. Within a couple of hours it was almost gone. I had read that tea helps with swelling so I gave it a try. I simply put a tea bag in warm water for about 1 minute and then poured out all of the water let it cool a bit (you want it to be warm but not too warm to touch) then use a couple of Qtips to soak up some of the tea (by depressing the Qtip on the warm tea bag) make sure it isnt too hot and place the Qtip with the tea on it directly onto the stye. And within a couple of hours it should feel better. I dont think that the type of tea matters but I did use a Green Tea baggie.
Gold Wedding Band
Posted by Christine (Clifton, NJ) on 10/22/2008
★★★★★
I rubbed my 14 carat white gold ring on my sty (gently!) A couple of times in one day- it's gone! One day later! Amazing !!!!! I love this site!
Urine
Posted by Phil (Portland, Oregon) on 09/01/2008
★★★★★
To relieve pressure from a sty within a short time (less than 4 hours). Place a small amount of your first urine discharged of the day into a small glass. Drip a Q-tip in the urine and place Q-tip on the sty. You will feel relief in 3o minutes and decrease of sty swelling with in 4 hours. Label glass and cover with Saran wrap and reapply in the afternoon if swelling and pain continues. Done this trick with great sucess through out my 56 years on planet earth.
Onion
Posted by Armando Ballesteros (North Hollywood, CA) on 08/01/2008
★★★★★
I have another remedy that cures sty's that people may want to try. Ever since I could remember, my mother uses a piece of onion (sauteed) no oil, just for heating purpuses. Warm it up til it's nice and hot and just rub it on your eye lid until the onion is no longer hot. Try this a couple of times and you will see results the same night/day you do this.
Green Tea
Posted by Joni (Grafton, OH) on 11/05/2006
★★★★★
A couple of years ago I was having a problem with styes- those annoying, painful lumps on the eyelid, on or near the lash line. My cousin told me to prepare a green tea bag, make yourself a cup of tea and while the bag is still semi-hot, squeeze out excess water (leave some), and apply to the stye for a minute or so. Be careful it's not too hot (altho I like it that way). Usually there's no sign of them the next morning. Maybe a stubborn one will take another treatment, but that's it! Kills it quickly. I don't use same bag on both eyes, in case of cross-contamination. Last night I felt a severe pain in my lower left eye, but it wasn't a sty. I took out my contacts and used a tea bag on it, and irrigated it with the tea and it began watering. Which felt greatbecause it was so dry and painful!! The pain subsided altho it still stung with whatever it was in my eye. It's fine this morning. I also cured my son's red, inflamed, crusty eyes with both green tea bags and honey a couple months ago. I made the tea, added honey to it and dipped the bags back in, didn't squeeze and used them (2 bags) on each eye. Did this about 3 times in 36 hours and they were healed.
Green Tea
Posted by Joni (Grafton, OH) on 11/05/2006
★★★★★
A couple of years ago I was having a problem with styes- those annoying, painful lumps on the eyelid, on or near the lash line. My cousin told me to prepare a green tea bag, make yourself a cup of tea and while the bag is still semi-hot, squeeze out excess water (leave some), and apply to the stye for a minute or so. Be careful it's not too hot (altho I like it that way). Usually there's no sign of them the next morning. Maybe a stubborn one will take another treatment, but that's it! Kills it quickly. I don't use same bag on both eyes, in case of cross-contamination. Last night I felt a severe pain in my lower left eye, but it wasn't a sty. I took out my contacts and used a tea bag on it, and irrigated it with the tea and it began watering. Which felt greatbecause it was so dry and painful!! The pain subsided altho it still stung with whatever it was in my eye. It's fine this morning. I also cured my son's red, inflamed, crusty eyes with both green tea bags and honey a couple months ago. I made the tea, added honey to it and dipped the bags back in, didn't squeeze and used them (2 bags) on each eye. Did this about 3 times in 36 hours and they were healed.
Green Tea
Posted by Joni (Grafton, OH) on 11/05/2006
★★★★★
A couple of years ago I was having a problem with styes- those annoying, painful lumps on the eyelid, on or near the lash line. My cousin told me to prepare a green tea bag, make yourself a cup of tea and while the bag is still semi-hot, squeeze out excess water (leave some), and apply to the stye for a minute or so. Be careful it's not too hot (altho I like it that way). Usually there's no sign of them the next morning. Maybe a stubborn one will take another treatment, but that's it! Kills it quickly. I don't use same bag on both eyes, in case of cross-contamination. Last night I felt a severe pain in my lower left eye, but it wasn't a sty. I took out my contacts and used a tea bag on it, and irrigated it with the tea and it began watering. Which felt greatbecause it was so dry and painful!! The pain subsided altho it still stung with whatever it was in my eye. It's fine this morning. I also cured my son's red, inflamed, crusty eyes with both green tea bags and honey a couple months ago. I made the tea, added honey to it and dipped the bags back in, didn't squeeze and used them (2 bags) on each eye. Did this about 3 times in 36 hours and they were healed.
Demodex Mites
Posted by Hessy (atlanta) on 08/10/2024 6 posts
★★★★★
Many Cases of Styes are from Demodex Mites - see my post under the condition BLEPHARITIS in EarthClinic and read about how an infestation (YUK) of these Demodex mites are likely the cause of re-ocurring STYES! See DEOMODEX MITES under Condition "BLEPHARITIS".
Lavender Oil
Posted by Barbara D. (Idaho) on 04/04/2024
★★★★★
I just want to concur..lavender oil stopped my stye from getting out of control! As soon as I figured out that a stye was forming I flushed it out with an eyewash in an eyecup. Then I put colloidal silver in my eye several times that day. The next day the stye was bigger, so I read on this site to use lavender oil. Yikes it stung! ..but the next day it had shrunk. I did the lavender oil one more time that day and the next day..GONE. Two days total, amazing.
Gold Wedding Ring
Posted by Mishi (Roseville, CA) on 10/17/2019
★★★★★
Yes, the gold ring method totally works for me. I've used this twice now and it's very effective!
Gold Wedding Band
Posted by Deirdre (LA) on 03/01/2019
★☆☆☆☆
After a very long drive home from visiting a relative, I got a very painful stye on the lash line of my upper eyelid that pressed into my eyeball, causing unbelievable pain. I read up on all the remedies on EC's Stye page, 15 years worth! and then tried them one by one by popularity. The gold ring method, the most popular remedy for styes - ouch. Holy moly! I suppose the reason this works for people is to disperse the cyst fluid but it actually did nothing for me except cause MUCH more pain. Perhaps if the stye was in another location it would have worked, but not one that was pressing into the eyeball! I also took turmeric capsules, 2 twice a day, put castor oil along my lash line, and then various warm tea bags + other remedies mentioned, one per day. The turmeric didn't seem to do much even though I took it for a week. Advil was very helpful because it was the only thing that stopped the pain. A number of posts mentioned the cyst opening up and draining and this is what I tried to do UNTIL, 5 days in, I read on various medical sites that the infection can spread if you do this! Fast forward 11 days to today. The stye on the eyelash line is better but not gone but there is another bump on my eyelid that moves around. I guess if it's still there next week I will go to my doctor and have it drained. Lesson: don't try to drain a stye by rubbing it with a ring! I think made things much worse. The best remedy was Mama's chamomile teabag remedy, very soothing, + time.
Gold Wedding Band
Posted by Art (California) on 03/02/2019
Deirdre, Did you try a wet and warm colloidal silver compress left on the closed eyelid while you nap? That has helped me in the past. Apply regularly until gone. Art
Gold Wedding Band
Posted by Deirdre (LA) on 03/03/2019
Dear Teena, Art and Janice, Thank you all for your suggestions! I have started on the warm Colloidal Silver applications and internally and will let you know how that goes. No change thus far in inflammation since I posted about it a couple of days ago. Stubborn infection! Also planning on trying the baking soda too, thanks Teena! Have started up again on the turmeric capsules. Appreciate all your help, thank you so much!
Baby Shampoo
Posted by Barbara (Aiken, South Carolina) on 01/09/2017 23 posts
Are you using a branded baby shampoo? It likely contains chemicals like sodium lauryl sulfate. That could cause irritation. Major brand baby shampoo is not safe for anything.
Earl Grey Tea, Turmeric
Posted by Karen (Lethbridge, Alberta) on 07/10/2014
★★★★★
Woke up this morning with my eye almost completely closed from a painful sty I developed yesterday, it is allergy season and my eyes are very sensitive. I looked on EC for cures and also talked to my mom, who used to get sty's often. I read about the anti-inflammatory effects of turmeric and my mom said tea works well too. So I made myself a morning cuppa and used the spent tea bag to nurse my poor dilapidated eye. Here's the method:
- Boil enough water for a cup of tea
- Place 1 earl grey tea bag in cup
- pour boiling water over bag
- steep 3 minutes
- remove tea bag and let cool (without squeezing the water out)
- rub some ground turmeric on the wet bag
- place bag on eye for 60 minutes
- add cream and sugar (or honey) to tea
- lay back and relax
enjoy :)
So after 20 minutes I checked my eye and shock and awe, the swelling went down considerably but there was still a bump right over the little pimple, I decided to leave it on for another 20 minutes. After that time elapsed I checked again and the sty was almost gone but still a very small bit of swelling remained on the outside of my eyelid which I hadn't noticed was swollen because of how severe the swelling was when I woke up! Another 20 minutes and my eye is darn near perfect! Definitely worth the 60 minute rest and the nice cuppa tea. I hope this helps others as it has myself, what a relief. Oh also I took 1 tsp turmeric powder orally as well to stave off any inflammation that may brew up over the course of the day.
Multiple Remedies
Posted by Ann (New York, Ny) on 05/31/2013
★★★★☆
I had a stye/chalazion which I went to see an opthamologist about and she precribed cortizone and antibiotics, which in addition to seeming an "overkill" cure, cost between $150 and $200 with no precription benefits. No can do.
I went home and used a few cures. Internal immunity boost: 5000 Vitamin C, little extra A and tumeric and milk with honey throughout day. For the actual eye, I used tea bags soaked in tea (alternated Yogi "cold season tea and green), wrapped in sterile gauze and then I put a hot water bottle on top to keep it warm ( bc the teabag loses its warmth quickly and you want to increase circulation to drain the stye). In 24 hours it looks and feels better, is already not so itchy. My hubby says I don't look like a boxer anymore.
Copaiba Oil
Posted by Hannah (Singapore) on 01/27/2013
★★★★★
My 2yr old son had stye more than a month. After 2 weeks of using the anti inflamation cream prescribed by doctor, the stye was still there and got worse and bigger. So I decided to read up on which essential oil to use.
I found Copaiba essential oil to be suitable for skin and decided to apply 1 or 2 drops on the cotton bud and applied on the stye. The next day after the 1st application (at night), the stye got smaller. By the 3rd application, the stye became very small and disappearing. I was so amazed by the effectiveness and how cheap Copaiba essential oil cost, $3. 50 for 1oz.
Castor Oil
Posted by Eunice (Nyc, Ny) on 10/30/2012
★★★★★
I tried the castor oil, tea bags and baby shampoo on a very big sty, and these remedies have worked wonders. First l washed the eye with baby shampoo, and amplied hot to warm chamomille and green tea bags. Then applied with a cutetip the castor oil. I have been doing this for the past three days and the inflamation is almost gone. I was looking like a monster, was really scared to the point l was ready to go the an eye doctor although l do not have insurance. Thanks for being Earth Clinic!
