r/Blepharitis

I'm currently going through a flare up. I personally have a complicated life and an anxiety problem, but I made progress and recently quit anxiety meds. I can adjust to that and I am making progress, however, blepharitis, which was under control for years, made an appearance. I can't relax if I have a flare up of this. I can't read a book or take a walk and enjoy it if my eyes sting. I struggle to get work done. I don't know when the flare up will be over.

After about a decade since this whole thing started, I am so done.

It used to be easy to control, but I once stopped using the wipes because I didn't know if they did anything. I had experienced zero symptoms for a while. Then I experienced symptoms again and thought "I guess I used those for a reason after all". This was about 7 years ago. Resuming the wipes helped the symptoms and everything was ok again, but a week later, I got extra busy and stopped using the wipes for a few days again. I didn't take it as seriously because blepharitis wasn't a big problem back then, it was a minor thing and not something I respected and feared the way I do now. But then the wipes never helped again. According to an optometrist I saw, stopping and then resuming treatment twice messed something up and it became stronger. I had no idea this could happen.

Since then, its different. I have worse flare ups, and its harder to control. I don't use the wipes anymore as they don't work, and use naviblef foam now. The naviblef is better apparently and still works even though it became stronger.

I found a decent doctor who tells me all about how to make it better, it was his idea to switch to naviblef, he gave me multiple tips that help, and he can look at my eyes with that thing ophthalmologists have to inspect your eyes, and tell me if I am doing the hygiene routine properly or should scrub better, how to do it etc. He's also done the blephex thing a few times, and also "expresses" my meibomian glands which I think helps.

I've been doing good most of the time actually, its just that its a real problem now. I have to take it very seriously now. Sometimes I have a flareup that won't go away until I overthink my hygiene routine and figure out a detail I'm getting wrong, such as not rinsing with abundant enough water, or not scrubbing the base of the eye lashes for long enough or with the right technique. I have to do it just right and I am sometimes in pain until I figure it out.

Anyway, back when I didn't know how this works of if I could make it stop, I saw different doctors to try to find someone who would help. Some were so useless, for example one just told me that the eyelashes falling off and the stinging/itch were just normal, and that the eye lashes fall off because the follicles die, but it's all normal. "Nothing to worry about, it's all a normal part of the blepharitis process". Did he just have no idea how to help? Or did he assume I just went there for reassurance and to be told I'm ok? Who knows. He also scared me by telling me the follicles die, but I later noticed those lashes mostly grow back. If he was trying to reassure what he thought was a whiny anxious patient, he could not even get that right. I said nothing to any of those doctors, just looked for someone else. I wasn't very assertive at all back then.

Right now I am going through a flareup as I said, and it caught me off guard after years of doing so well. It started out very mild and I admittedly neglected it at first (as in, didn't really troubleshoot my routine). Then tried to improve my routine and it worked for a few days then got worse. I am now scrubbing more when I do it, in order to truly get rid of the biofilm that causes this problem (or whatever), which is actually how I got better initially. The improvement over the last week has been obvious, but I've had a few bad days now and I am stressing over the recovery being ruined. I should not stress over it, to be fair. But I wonder if I am doing something wrong. I'll try to be gentler (while still making sure to scrub the base of the eyelashes well enough), rinse well, never scratch my eyes, I also will make sure I don't use a facial cleanser on my eyes after the naviblef, as it may be too much or leave a residue.... I guess. Other than that I'm out of ideas (I've gone through this feeling many times btw). Because I think the cleansing routine itself is ok, so I won't change that for now.

I hope this does the trick. Until then, my eyes will sting and be itchy most of the time.

A trick my doctor told me to know how I'm doing is to feel my eyelashes and see how soft are. If they are very soft it means I am doing the hygiene routine right and will get better, if they feel a bit hardened, it means the hygiene is not good enough. They are soft right now, so I will pay attention to those things but still stay consistent with the same cleansing technique.

I hope that works, idk when or if I will be ok... Every time this happens I get scared that this is the flareup that doesn't go away, since I had that problem back then of the blepharitis becoming stronger. This makes me more nervous than it should, and part of the problem is that every flareup reminds me of when I didn't know how to make the pain go away, when I saw my eye lashes falling off and got anxious (now not so much because I noticed they mostly grow back), the useless doctors I tried, the time the blepharitis became stronger forever... Fuck

I already have an appointment with the doctor I like, I'm just trying to vent and share with people who go through a similar problem, but if you have advice that you think will be helpful, feel free to share. But I'm mostly looking for people who relate and to hear how you're doing. I will be thankful for any supportive comments.

Does anyone have experience with skin on the eyelid turning white from a Cortizone shot? Is it permanent? Does it go away with warm compress? Should I sue ? lol

I had chalazion surgery in march and had it re-done in May again as it was unsuccessful. After the 2nd surgery my eye is still inflamed and swollen.

Is my only option here to get the cortizone/steroid shots? Do they actually help?

The ophthalmologist also prescribed me doxycycline, so hopefully that helps.

hiya, i was diagnosed with MGD recently. i got a meibography done and it showed i have about 30% gland loss in both eyes. i also have a history of chalazion in my upper right eye lid (once a year since 2024. chalazions resolved on their own with heated compresses). after MGD diagnosis, i decided to move forward with IPL treatments.

after my second IPL session, my optometrist said there's improvement in the texture of the oils expressed after treatment (yay good news). however, 6 days after my 2nd IPL treatment, i noticed i'm developing a chalazion in my upper right eyelid. i'm curious if anyone has experienced this. i'm unsure if i should continue with my 3rd and 4th IPL treatment or if that will worsen my chalazion. i'm also confused that it seems like my oil quality was improving but here i am with yet another chalazion. any advice/anecdotal evidence appreciated. thanks!

edit: more info about past chalazions

I developed chronic blepharitis in my mid 40s. I am female, going through what I now know is perimenopause. One of the lesser known symptoms of perimenopause is dry eyes/inability to drain oil glands. This led to chronic blepharitis with the occasional chalazion. It greatly affected my self-esteem. I saw multiple eye doctors, did all the treatments including a steroid injection. I took fish oil supplements. I did the warm compress. I bought special eye soap. All provided only minimal and temporary relief. I started HRT last month and now I'm completely cured. No pain, no itch, no flakes, no inflammation. I was able to wear eye makeup again for the first time in 2 years.

Thought this might help anyone in a similar situation. Obviously, do your own research and talk to a doctor about HRT. Perimenopause is wild.

I’ve had a chalazion on my right eyelid for around 7 months and it has only just gone away. Now I feel and I can see a stye forming on my left eyelid. I’m tired of this idk what to do anymore. Should I start warm compressing it straight away? Also how do I prevent this from happening again, is there something wrong with my eye health?

Hello Reddit family. I just wanted to post some positivity here. Less than a week ago a small red lump had developed on my right eyelid and after reading posts on here about styes and chalazons that stuck around for months, surgeries, and all kinds of other horror stories, I really started freaking out.

My doctor prescribed me Tobrex ointment. Five days. Every 8 hours. I’m only on day 2 and already I feel like me again. Ask your doctor for this!!!!

Good luck ✨

Most of the research I gathered online says to never put any pressure on the stye or it will get worse. But I went to the eye doctor and he said to draw circles with my fingertip while applying pressure to my stye as I do hot compresses. Also prescribed Xdemvy which I will start tomorrow. Are these things normal?

I have a bad history with styes, had one turn into a chalazion and surgically removed a year ago. I was stye free since then and have a strict eye hygiene routine but apparently I have Demodex (eyelash mites WTH!!)

Just had my first round of IPL done

No side effects, I actually feel totally fine

My biggest symptom is eyelid redness - for those of you who have had IPL, how many sessions did it take for this particular symptom to improve?

My flare up has finally calmed down and I’m hoping to wear makeup tomorrow for a very special occasion (engagement photos) and I want to be diligent with my cleansers after.

What types of Hypochlorus acid do you guys use, and has it helped?!? The Occusoft is just so expensive and I’d love to use the Walgreens brand or the Target brand Magic Molecule.

I’m thinking of doing Garnier sensitive, rinse, then the acid to be extra safe. I just want to dress up for this day without an outbreak.

I have 4 solid bumps on my upper eyelid and 1 bump on my medial lower eyelid and all of them in the same eye. they are all droplet sized

The lower eyelid one is more than an year old. Two of upper eyelid ones are 8 months old, one is 2 months old and new one is a week old.

none of them ever hurts. how do i treat this? my doc prescribed me lovosite 10, diparatio and phenotexin-500

i’ve posted a couple times on here, i finally saw a professional and got properly re-diagnosed.
turns out i have a mix of both anterior and posterior blepharitis, which lead to a corneal infection.
luckily, we’re fixing that and next week i have another appointment to talk about more long term treatment plans.
finally.

I will post my story eventually so far dealing with blepharitis for almost a year now.

However, i feel as though it would be nice for us to do our own research. I'm thinking maybe some sort of questionare where we are asked questions but also open ended responses. Things like what is your diet like, when did the issue start? what detergent / soaps do you use, and way more in depth questions etc.. Maybe then feed that data and dissect it.

I just feel like we're always told the same thing, dry eyes, oh you work on a computer for your job? There's the issue, blah blah blah.

I understand we might be sort of a lost cause, but i really just get tired of going to eye doctor's with really no answers other than take some fish oil, clean eyelids, and use an eyemask which yes i do routinely but feel as though there's potentially underlying causes / maybe other things we can try that might steer us along a different direction to better manage this condition.