A tender red lump on the eyelid margin. Most settle within a week without antibiotics — here is what actually helps.
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A stye is a small, painful infection of a lash follicle at the edge of the eyelid — red, tender, and often with a visible yellow head. It is essentially a spot on the lash line.
Most settle within one to two weeks with warm compresses alone, and antibiotics are rarely needed.
It is easily confused with a chalazion, and the difference decides the treatment:
Two things worth knowing:
The one thing not to sit on: redness and swelling spreading beyond the lid onto the surrounding face, with fever, pain on moving the eye or double vision, needs same-day assessment — that suggests infection spreading around the eye.
Some styes point inwards on the inner surface of the lid — more uncomfortable, slower to settle, and harder to see.
These suggest the infection is spreading into the tissues around the eye, which needs prompt treatment.
Bacteria — usually staphylococcus, which lives harmlessly on skin — infecting a lash follicle or one of its associated glands. Not caused by anything you did wrong, and it is common in perfectly clean people.
Essentially no. The bacteria are the ones already living on most people's skin. Sensible hand hygiene and not sharing towels or eye make-up is enough — there is no need to isolate anyone or keep a child off school.
Almost always because the lid margins have not been treated. A stye is a symptom of the lid environment, not an isolated event — which is why people get three or four in a year and then none at all once they start daily lid hygiene.
Frequent styes in an adult also warrant a check for diabetes, which is worth doing rather than assuming bad luck.
A stye is diagnosed by appearance, and a clear close-up photograph in good light is usually enough — which suits a remote consultation well and saves a trip out with a sore eye.
None for a straightforward stye. For recurrent styes we check HbA1c, since undiagnosed diabetes presents this way more often than people expect.
Squeezing spreads infection into the surrounding lid tissue and can turn a stye into a spreading infection around the eye. Let it discharge on its own — which most do within a few days of proper compresses.
Equally, do not pull out the lash or try to lance it yourself.
Most styes do not need them, and topical antibiotic drops do little for a lash follicle infection. Oral antibiotics are appropriate where the infection is spreading across the lid or beyond, or where someone is systemically unwell — and that situation needs examining rather than treating remotely.
The part that actually matters if you get them repeatedly: daily lid hygiene — heat, massage, then cleaning the lash line — continued long term. See blepharitis, which is nearly always the underlying reason.
Seek same-day medical assessment for:
These suggest infection spreading into the tissues around the eye, which needs prompt treatment and sometimes admission.
Book an appointment for:
No exclusion is needed. A stye is caused by bacteria already living on most people's skin, and there is no reason to keep a child off school or to stay off work.
If you get styes repeatedly, the lid margins are the problem:
Frequent styes in an adult are worth a diabetes check — recurrent skin and eyelid infections are a recognised way undiagnosed diabetes shows itself, and it is a simple blood test.
That is a chalazion — a blocked gland remaining after the infection has cleared. It is not still infected, antibiotics will not help, and it needs the same heat-and-massage routine but for considerably longer. See our chalazion page.
A stye needs a warm compress and time, and both are free. Most settle within one to two weeks without any treatment at all. Your NHS GP and your optometrist will both assess it free, and a pharmacist can advise without an appointment.
We would not charge you for this in most cases, and antibiotic drops are usually unnecessary — a stye is a blocked, infected follicle that drains by itself rather than something that needs clearing systemically.
The advice that actually changes the outcome costs nothing: genuine heat for ten minutes twice daily, not a lukewarm flannel for two minutes; gentle lid massage afterwards; and not squeezing it, which pushes infection into the lid.
Where a consultation is worth it is when it is not a stye. A chalazion looks similar but is not infected and needs different management. Spreading redness onto the surrounding skin suggests preseptal cellulitis and does need antibiotics. And a firm lump that keeps recurring in exactly the same spot needs examining rather than treating.
What needs urgent in-person assessment: swelling around the eye with fever, pain on moving the eye, double vision, or reduced vision. Orbital cellulitis is an emergency and it starts looking like a bad stye.
NICE Clinical Knowledge Summary, Styes (hordeolum), is the principal reference. It recommends warm compresses as first-line, notes that most resolve spontaneously, and advises that topical antibiotics are not routinely indicated for an uncomplicated stye.
The College of Optometrists clinical management guidelines cover the distinction between an external hordeolum, an internal hordeolum and a chalazion, which determines management.
NICE CKS sets out the referral criteria — including a stye that does not resolve, recurrent lesions at the same site, and any suspicion of preseptal or orbital cellulitis.
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists guidance on periorbital and orbital cellulitis underpins the urgent features listed above: proptosis, painful or restricted eye movements, and reduced visual acuity distinguish orbital from preseptal infection and require emergency admission.
No. Squeezing pushes infection into the surrounding eyelid tissue and can turn a minor stye into a spreading infection around the eye. Warm compresses bring it to a head and it discharges by itself, usually within a few days — which is when the pain stops. Do not pluck the lash or try to lance it either.
Almost certainly not. Most styes settle within one to two weeks with warm compresses alone, and drops do little for an infection in a lash follicle. Oral antibiotics are for infection spreading across the lid or beyond — and that situation needs someone to look at it rather than a remote prescription.
Use a microwavable eye bag rather than a flannel, which cools within a minute. Five to ten minutes, three or four times a day, followed by gentle massage. Sustained heat is what brings a stye to a head, and inadequate heat is why people feel compresses are not working.
Almost always because of blepharitis — inflammation of the lid margins. Treating each stye does nothing to prevent the next; daily lid hygiene continued long term is what breaks the cycle. And frequent styes in an adult are worth a diabetes check, since recurrent eyelid infections are a recognised way undiagnosed diabetes appears.
Yes to both. No exclusion is needed — styes are caused by bacteria already living on most people's skin and are not meaningfully contagious. Wash hands, do not share towels, and carry on.
That is a chalazion — a blocked oil gland left behind once the infection cleared. It is not infected, so antibiotics will not help. It needs the same heat and massage routine but for considerably longer, often one to three months. Ours is on the chalazion page.
If the redness and swelling spread beyond the eyelid, if you develop a fever, or if it hurts to move the eye, your vision changes or you see double. Those suggest the infection is spreading into the tissues around the eye and need same-day assessment. An ordinary stye stays confined to the lid margin.
Not until it has fully settled — and discard any eye make-up used while the stye was there. Afterwards, remove make-up thoroughly every night, avoid eyeliner along the inner lash line where it blocks the gland openings, and replace mascara every three months.
August 24, 2026
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It means the diagnosis can usually be made from your history and photographs, and that treatment can be arranged safely without examining you. Where a condition is not marked treatable online, it is because examination is the diagnosis — listening to a chest, feeling an abdomen, examining an ear or a joint — or because a procedure or device is needed.
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If your problem turns out to be genuinely outside what we can do remotely, the doctor will tell you straight away, point you to the right service, and refund your fee in full. We would rather do that than fill twenty minutes to justify the charge.
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