Furuncle on the eye: effective treatment methods

Boil under the eye - what is it?

A boil is nothing more than a boil.
A boil under the eye has the form of a benign neoplasm, which is formed during inflammatory processes in the hair follicles or sebaceous glands.

The danger of this pathology lies in suppurations, the development of which is provoked by inflammation. In the absence of timely treatment or when poor-quality therapy is carried out, pathogenic microorganisms accumulate in the purulent exudate. They can cause various complications, including partial or total blindness.

A boil under the eye usually appears gradually. It has three main stages of development:

1. Initially, a slight swelling appears at the site of the lesion. There may be slight redness of the skin and itching. There is a feeling of the presence of a foreign body in the eye, but upon examination of the eye nothing is revealed.
2. The second stage is characterized by a twitching sensation and the appearance of severe lacrimation. Redness of the mucous membrane is also possible. Thick purulent discharge forms in the inner or outer corners of the eyes, which quickly dries out.
3. At the third stage of boil development, significant visual changes can be seen. The boil takes the form of a compaction with clear boundaries; its surface may have a red or bluish tint. The head of the boil is also clearly visible. It has a yellow or white tint.

The average duration of any stage of boil development is 3 days. But depending on the etiology of the formation, the period of development of a boil under the eye may vary.

Spawn Locations

A boil in front of a child’s eyes is very similar to an inflamed pimple, but there are a number of distinctive features, the main one of which is the danger of such formation for the child’s health.

The eyebrow is a fairly common location for an abscess . The inflammatory process can last from 8 days to two weeks. Additional symptoms include headache, fever, and weakness.

The favorite place for its appearance can be identified in the area of ​​the upper eyelid, closer to the eyebrow, less often - at the edges and eyelashes.

What could be the reasons?

You should not try to squeeze out a boil yourself, it can be dangerous.
The appearance of a boil under the eye occurs with the development of pathological processes in the hair follicles. This area is located in the lash line. Inflammation begins when white or aureus staphylococcus enters the follicle. It begins to multiply rapidly and causes a response from the body, manifested in an increase in size, color and swelling of the affected area.

In medical practice, the main causes of boils under the eye are identified. These include:

• Poor personal hygiene.
• Using unsuitable cleaning agents.
• Applying low-quality cosmetics to the skin.
• Presence of chronic dermatological diseases.
• Avitaminosis.
• Mechanical damage to the skin in the eye area in the form of abrasions and scratches.
• Increased oiliness of facial skin.
• Tendency to acne.
• Parasitism of the Demodex mite on the skin of the face.

Also, the risk of a boil under the eye increases significantly with prolonged stay in environmentally polluted areas and with constant contact with dust.

Causes of a boil on the eye

The causes of the disease are as follows:

• Getting dust, dirt, and chemicals into your eyes.
• Allergy to decorative or skincare cosmetics.
• Insufficient eye and facial hygiene. Incorrect selection of hygiene products based on skin type (especially sensitive skin types). Chemicals get into the eyes, onto microtraumas and cause inflammation.
• Mechanical damage to the eyes - scratches, abrasions. Even small wounds cause a boil to appear.
• Dermatological diseases localized in the eyes and accompanied by itching. An infection gets into the scratching area and causes pathology.

Indirect causes provoke the appearance of a boil in any location; it can also appear before the eyes.

• Poor immunity. It can get worse due to various infections.
• Disruption of the endocrine system (diabetes mellitus, obesity) and metabolism. The body is poorly protected from bacteria and germs.
• Unfinished course of treatment with antibiotics and hormonal agents.
• Gastrointestinal diseases, alcoholism, smoking, diseases of the nervous system.
• Hypothermia.

The disease is caused by Staphylococcus aureus.

Symptoms of a boil under the eye

The inflammatory process with the formation of pus, provoked by staphylococcus, has characteristic signs. Symptoms of a boil under the eye appear as:

1. The appearance of pain when palpating the affected area.
2. Redness of the skin under the eye.
3. Slight decrease in vision.
4. The presence of swelling of the skin.
5. Pain when moving the eyeball and eyelid.
6. Constant compaction of the structure of the boil.
7. Rapid growth and lack of clear boundaries of the boil.
8. Increased body temperature that does not decrease for several days.
9. The presence of general weakness.
10. Enlarged regional lymph nodes.

With the development of a boil under the eye, the general condition worsens significantly and the ability to work decreases. Therefore, at the first signs you should contact an ophthalmologist.

How to quickly remove stye from the eye at home: what to do first?

Stye on the eye

Stye is a common disease. This inflammatory process of the eyelash hair follicle causes a lot of inconvenience. To quickly remove styes from your eyes at home, you can use several methods. All of them are quite effective. The main thing is to prevent the disease from progressing, but to act at the very beginning of its development. What to do first?

• Your own saliva is the simplest but most effective method. Apply a cotton-gauze swab moistened with your own saliva 2-3 times a day. This method may seem trivial, but sometimes it helps, especially at the very beginning of the disease.
• Baking Soda Solution - Prepare a warm solution with regular baking soda: 1 teaspoon of baking soda per quarter cup of hot water. Apply a tampon soaked in this solution to the barley 3-4 times a day. Recovery occurs in 1-2 days.
• Garlic and onion: a clove of garlic or a small clove of onion is kneaded into a paste, wrapped in a clean cloth or bandage, and applied to the inflamed area with the eye closed. To avoid irritation and burns of the mucous membrane. It is possible to repeat the procedure several times in a row until a slight burning sensation occurs.

Read the article on our website on the topic: “How to speak a stye on your own eye?” Perhaps the information contained in it will help you get rid of the disease. You can also remove stye from the eye at home using thermal methods:

• Applying medicinal herbs such as calendula, chamomile, plantain, which are used in crushed dry form after heating them in a frying pan or in the microwave.
• Use any heated cereal available in the house: buckwheat, oatmeal, rice, millet. Wrap some heated cereal in a rag and apply it to your eye, you should feel a pleasant warmth.
• Applying heated clean sea or river sand wrapped in cotton cloth.
• Regular cologne or perfume can also help. When you moisten a cotton-gauze swab and apply it to a closed eye for a few seconds, a pronounced feeling of warmth or a slight burning sensation appears. After this, remove and reapply the tampon - the procedure is repeated up to 5-6 times in a row. This is a very effective method that you can use first.

Differential diagnosis

A boil must be differentiated from a stye, but this will not cause any difficulties for an experienced ophthalmologist.
A quick correct diagnosis affects the success of treatment of a boil under the eye. This pathology has similar symptoms to other diseases, so differential diagnosis is used in diagnosis. It allows you to distinguish furunculosis from abscess, barley, dacryocystitis and dacryoadenitis.

Diagnosis of a boil under the eye is usually carried out using a comprehensive examination. It includes:

• Physical examination.
• Dermatoscopy.
• Bacteriological culture of exudate.
• Clinical and biochemical blood test.
• Ultrasound examination of the affected area.

Based on the test results, the type of pathogen and the degree of development of furunculosis are determined. Such an examination is sufficient for a single boil.

If the disease constantly recurs, additional examination is prescribed. Typically it consists of:

1. Blood test for glucose levels.
2. Bacteriological culture of urine.
3. Rhinoscopy.
4. Fluorography.
5. Ultrasound of internal organs.
6. Examination by narrow specialists.

When undergoing the diagnostic complex, it is important to follow all the rules for taking tests. This reduces the error of the results and allows you to quickly make an accurate diagnosis.

Methods for treating a boil under the eye

In some cases, medications will help eliminate a boil under the eye.
A boil under the eye is a dangerous disease, so self-medication in this case is unacceptable. It is also strictly forbidden to use traditional methods and especially heating. This can contribute to the spread of infection throughout the body and trigger the development of sepsis.

In medical practice, several therapeutic methods are used to treat boils under the eye. The main ones are:

• Medication.
• Surgical.

As additional methods, the use of traditional medicine is allowed. Herbal decoctions for oral use are usually prescribed to strengthen the immune system.

Drug treatment

When treating a boil under the eye, medications are intended for symptomatic and local treatment.

Most often, ophthalmologists prescribe:

1. An ointment that contains antibiotics of different groups: Erythromycin, Tetracycline, Levomecithin.
2. Antiseptic and antibacterial drops: Ciprofloxacin, Albucid, Tobramycin.
3. Applications with antiseptic and anti-inflammatory drugs.
4. Antibiotics for oral use: Ampiox, Cefipime, Sumamed.

When treating a boil under the eye, potent drugs are used. Therefore, they should only be prescribed by an ophthalmologist or ophthalmologist.

High therapeutic effectiveness is observed with complex treatment. The simultaneous use of oral medications and ointments can eliminate swelling, inflammation and speed up the process of boil maturation.

Also, with this treatment, rapid healing of the wound occurs after the boil breaks through, which prevents the formation of scars and tissue on the skin.

Surgery

There is a rule in surgery: “Where there is pus, there is an incision.”
Therefore, the main method of treating a boil is opening the lesion and sanitation. This technique is used when conservative therapy is ineffective. The operation is performed in a hospital by a doctor under local anesthesia. To do this, the boil is injected with anesthetics. Then the boil is opened, the pus is removed from it, and the cavity is washed with an antiseptic solution. For quick healing, a special medicine is infused into the wound.

When treating a boil under the eye with medications prescribed by a doctor, the prognosis for recovery is always positive. Qualified medical care for this pathology helps to quickly stop inflammatory processes, clean the boil cavity from pus and remove the necrotic core. This prevents the infection from spreading throughout the body and eliminates relapse.

Treatment for a boil under the eye is usually carried out on an outpatient basis or at home. Only in an advanced state does treatment of a boil require inpatient conditions.

Drug treatment of stye on the upper eyelid

Barley is not a contact disease; it cannot be contracted by walking near an infected person.

Stye appears on the upper eyelid with severe pain and heaviness. It is impossible to open the eye completely; there is sagging of the skin on the eye.

If inflammation has begun, but pus has not yet appeared, it is recommended to treat the problem area with any antiseptic - brilliant green, iodine, medical 70% alcohol. But you need to carefully monitor the application process. If liquid accidentally gets on the mucous membrane of the eye, the baby will receive a severe burn. It is also possible to use Dexamethasone applied to gauze and applied to the papule. In the first days, the doctor will prescribe disinfection with ultraviolet light, which neutralizes the infection and accelerates the formation of pus.

The release of the contents of the papule leads to the accumulation of purulent masses on the eyelashes. It's hard to keep your eyes open. First aid for a breakthrough is to soak a cotton swab in a solution of furatsilin and rinse the swollen eye from any residual discharge.

Recommended drug treatment is presented in the table.

Effective treatment regimen:

1. Sofradex – 6 times a day;
2. Hydrocortisone and tetracycline ointment - alternately 3 times in 24 hours;
3. Use of antibiotics: Tobrex, Levomycytin, Albucid.

Following the proposed scheme, improvement will occur within 12 hours. Within 24 hours, all symptoms will disappear.

When fever develops, additional therapy with antibacterial drugs (Unidox Salutab) and drugs that lower body temperature (Paracetamol, Panadol) and urgent hospitalization are required.

The use of folk remedies accelerates ripening. The following measures should be applied:

1. Exposure to sunbathing;
2. Dry heat compresses: hot egg, fried salt in a bag on the affected area;
3. Herbal lotions: water treatments using chamomile, plantain, calendula or string, juice from aloe leaf.

Recommended by many, placing a used tea bag on the inflamed area is not an effective method. Such exposure can lead to the spread of infection to uninfected tissue.

Thus, only reduced immunity can contribute to the manifestation of infection. To cure unpleasant pain, it is necessary to take medications and folk remedies in combination.

It is important to maintain hygiene - this way you can reduce the risk of disease

Possible complications

A boil under the eye responds well to treatment in the initial stage. If it is not carried out, the disease takes a severe form. In this form, the pathology is often accompanied by the development of serious complications.

Most often, the negative consequences of a boil under the eye are manifested by the development of:

• Inflammation of the cornea.
• Phlegmon.
• Sepsis.
• Meningitis.

These pathologies not only significantly reduce the level of general health, but can also lead to irreversible loss of vision and even death.

Also, when treating an advanced boil, the likelihood of unethical scars on the face increases, which can greatly distort external attractiveness.

Prevention methods

By following simple rules of prevention, you can minimize the chance of a boil appearing under the eye.
Prevention allows you to prevent the appearance of a boil under the eye. Doctors recommend the following as such measures:

1. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap after visiting public places and walking outside.
2. Strengthen the immune system with herbal and medicinal preparations.
3. Use only high-quality hygiene products and detergents for facial skin care.
4. Use high-quality decorative cosmetics.
5. Take frequent walks in the fresh air.
6. Avoid getting debris and other foreign bodies into your eyes.
7. Follow a proper nutrition system.
8. Minimize your stay in dusty rooms.
9. Do not touch your face with dirty hands.
10. Do not use someone else’s decorative and hygienic cosmetics.

The effectiveness of prevention depends on the frequency of its observance. By constantly adhering to these recommendations, you can not only prevent the development of a boil under the eye, but also eliminate the recurrence of the disease.

Regardless of the cause of its appearance, a boil under the eye has clear symptoms. Therefore, this disease can be identified at an early stage and receive adequate treatment in a timely manner.

In the video below, ophthalmologists talk about a disease similar to boils - barley:

What is barley

Barley (hordeolum) is an acute inflammation of the sebaceous gland or hair follicle of the eyelash. The secretion of this gland is necessary to lubricate the surface of the eyeball and the inside of the eyelids, which prevents them from drying out. When the gland duct becomes clogged or pathogens enter it, an inflammatory process begins.

According to the localization of the inflammatory process, hordeolum is:

• on the upper eyelid;
• on the lower eyelid;
• outside on the eyelid;
• inside the eye socket.

Age also plays a role; stye in a baby or a one-year-old child will be more difficult, this is due to underdevelopment of the immune system, nervous system, and body defenses. Frequent relapses of barley and furunculosis indicate that the small organism is unsuccessfully fighting the pathogen and needs help. In this case, local remedies will not be enough; you need to take a tableted antibacterial course.

What does stye look like in children?

At the initial stage of the disease, the child begins to scratch his eye, complain of pain when blinking, tearing, as if something had gotten into the eye. Next, swelling and redness appear, the temperature may rise, and the cervical and submandibular lymph nodes enlarge.

After a couple of days, a purulent sac with a white cap forms. With an external boil, this is visible to the naked eye; with an internal stye on the lower eyelid, you need to slightly pull the eyelid towards you to see the localization of the process.

After another two to three days, the abscess ripens and breaks out on its own, which is the resolution of the process and brings significant relief to the baby

From this moment on, the process is getting better, it is important to continue treating the eye and prevent the infection from spreading further

It is much worse if the pus, unable to find its way out, breaks into the sinuses or reaches the upper jaw, this will lead to infection of these areas and generalization of the process, even to sepsis.

Is stye contagious to others?

Barley is not an infectious disease. The causative agent may be Staphylococcus aureus or demodex mite. This bacteriological flora lives on the skin of any person. Constantly suppressed by the immune system, it is not active. With a decrease in immunity and a “hole” in the defense, staphylococcus attacks the baby, provoking inflammation, that is, it is impossible to become infected or pass a boil on to someone.

Is it possible to go to kindergarten

A very common question is, is it possible to walk with barley or attend preschool institutions during an illness? It is possible, as we found out above (the disease is not contagious), but it is not recommended.

The fact is that the very fact of the appearance of a boil in a child indicates that the baby is weak, the immune system cannot cope, you need to take care and gain strength. Excessive walks and hypothermia can cause the condition to worsen. Children in kindergarten may, out of curiosity, bring in dirt or cause injury to the child.