How Do I Tell the Difference Between an Eye Infection and a Stye?

Stye is also known as acupuncture, blepharitis, and is an acute purulent inflammation of the sebaceous glands or meibomian glands near the eyelash follicles. Stye is divided into two types: inner stye and outer stye:

Basic Information

nickname

Blepharitis, Acupuncture

English name

hordeolum

Visiting department

Ophthalmology

Common causes

Caused by staphylococcal infection of the meibomian glands or sebaceous glands

Common symptoms

Localized eyelid skin is red, swollen, hot, and painful, and edema near the bulbar conjunctiva

Causes of stye

There are two types of glands in the eyelids, called sebaceous glands at the base of the eyelashes, which open into the hair follicles, and another called the meibomian glands, which are buried in the meibomian near the conjunctival surface, and open at the edge of the eyelid. Stye is an acute purulent inflammation of these two glands. The bacteria that cause stye are mostly Staphylococcus aureus.

Stye clinical manifestations

1. Localized eyelid skin is red, swollen, hot, and painful, and edema near the bulbar conjunctiva.

2. When the pus is localized and accumulated, yellow pustules appear. The outer stye occurs in the sebaceous glands at the root of the eyelashes, which appears on the skin surface. The inner stye occurs in the meibomian glands, which appear on the conjunctival surface.

3. Severe cases are accompanied by preauricular, submandibular lymph nodes and tenderness, chills throughout the body, and fever.

Stye examination

1. Focus on eyelid changes.

2. If there is a systemic reaction, the peripheral blood leukocyte count and classification should be checked.

Stye treatment

1. Early wet hot compress or spin magnetic therapy

Promote infiltration or induration to quickly purify.

2. Surgical incision

When the inflammation is controlled, the pus can gather and form a fluctuating sensation, and the pus can be incised and drained, and the necrotic or granulation tissue can be properly cleaned up. Drainage strips can be placed according to the situation. After the inflammation subsides, if there is still residual granulation tissue or induration, surgical resection can be performed again. However, it should be noted that the skin incision of the outer stye should be parallel to the margin of the eyelid, and the incision of the conjunctival face of the inner stye should be perpendicular to the eyelid. Improper compression should be avoided to prevent inflammation from spreading into the orbital and intracranial areas, causing orbital cellulitis, cavernous sinus phlebitis, meningitis, and abscesses, which are life threatening.

3. For cases of stubborn and frequent attacks

Available autoimmune therapies. With systemic fever, lymphadenopathy before the ear and submandibular can be treated with antibiotics.