3 (+2) chalazion treatments that really helped

[UPDATED December 16, 2020: Fixing links; recommending against using Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo and using Live Clean instead; fixing some words here and there because this post is quite a few years old now. Our kid is possibly starting to get another chalazion after years of having none, so we’ll see how this pans out.]

[UPDATED May 19, 2016: Have you been here before? I’ve added new stuff to this post. Scroll to the bottom for my favourite chalazion-busters yet.]

When our little guy got his first chalazions (one under each eye, ugh) around the age of one and a half, we naturally thought they were styes. I get them every so often from eye makeup, and figured that if they’re contagious, he may have gotten one from me that eventually spread by his rubbing his eyes. Eventually though, both ‘styes’ got so big that I started researching and learned about chalazions.

We visited several doctors who (as they don’t specialize in these things) weren’t quite sure how to help except to prescribe meds that unfortunately helped nothing.

When we finally got in with a pediatric opthalmologist (she’s in-demand and had a long waiting list) her suggestion was lots of warm baths, cleaning the eyes with baby shampoo a few times a day, and warm compresses.

Compresses would probably work wonders, in an ideal world where toddlers and babies don’t think you’re trying to murder them when you hold them in place with a damp rag over their eyeballs. I did not live in such a world, so I researched on, while we kept a strict routine of baby shampooing the poor kid’s eyes and failing to ‘compress’.

A chalazion (/kəˈleɪziən/; plural chalazia /kəˈleɪziə/), also known as a meibomian gland lipogranuloma, is a cyst in the eyelid that is caused by inflammation of a blocked meibomian gland, usually on the upper eyelid. Chalazia differ from styes (hordeola) in that they are subacute and usually painless nodules.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalazion

Painless as they are, they look painful as a mother. Perhaps worst of all, they take a long time to go away. It took months for the bumps to subside  and he now has little scars where they were. (From the amount of cleaning, maybe.) [UPDATE: July 25, 2018] His scars have faded almost completely now! We’re probably the only ones who might notice the little dots of them under his one eye.

Below are the methods that seemed to help most, opthalmologist-advised and through my own research.

[IMPORTANT: Please do your own additional research and consult with your doctor if you’re unsure. I do not give exact dosages or distributions because every situation is different. These suggestions are based on our experience, not official medical research.  I compiled them because it took a lot of time and frustration to find 3 things that finally seemed to help clear up his chalazions.]

Persistent cleaning with baby shampoo.

This was when a difference seemed to begin.

Do not be surprised if the chalazions become blood blisters, or actually secrete blood or pus. That is how they drain. The opthalmologist told us this would happen if we were cleaning right. :/ Thankfully we only saw it happen a couple of times because it looks pretty scary, especially on a kid.

Clean the eyes a lot, but be gentle. Baby shampoo (suggested by the opthalmologist) still stings a bit and scares a tiny kid.

LiveClean-Eco-Friendly-Baby-Wash

We used to use Johnson’s Baby Shampoo for his eyes because we had a lot of it on hand (we used to receive many Johnson’s sample coupons in the mail). However, more recent events have made me wary of that brand. We love and recommend Live Clean because it’s environmentally friendly and I trust it to make other things too, like homemade baby wipes! I’ve linked to the Tearless Shampoo & Wash version which is a wonderful and safe multipurpose product. They make many delicious smelling shampoos for adults too, by the way.

 

We used cotton washcloths and eventually cotton swabs to apply the shampoo, using a different part of the cloth/swab for each eye. We used freshly wet parts of the cloth to rinse each eye clean. He is much better about it now that he’s older (yep, we still do it as part of our routine), but it was difficult for a while. We did it 3-4 times a day when the chalazions were large, and 2 times daily now.

Be as consistent as possible. As our doctor said, keeping it clean even after it clears up is important to prevent recurrence.

Sulphur.

I found a post on ABCHomeopathy.com which reflected our situation in almost every way. In desperation, we followed advice given there by a naturopath which had worked for the original poster. Coincidence or not, this was around the time our son’s chalazions shrunk most dramatically.

The original poster on that thread says they still keep Sulphur pellets handy years later to use whenever they see one of these cysts beginning on their child. (Note: Liquid and pellet varieties are available. We used 30C pellets and dissolved into filtered water, first thing in the morning as suggested.)

Treating blepharitis or chalazions with homeopathic sulphur 30C pellets

These are the ones we’re currently using (available at a local health food store) but Boiron Sulphur 30C pellets also worked. We use these as soon as we notice the typical constant eyes watering he gets before eye issues arise.

Also! Try incorporating sulphur-rich foods like onions, eggs and broccoli. More info here on which sulphur rich vegetables to use, how to cook them, and sulphur benefits in general. I found that when we let our diets (and, subsequently, his) slip for a few days, that’s when problems arose again.

Organic unrefined virgin coconut oil.

Oooh, buzzwords! Right? Eh. In this case, it seems to make a difference.

Nutiva-Organic-Unrefined-Virgin-Coconut-Oil

I love Nutiva’s quality for skin care, cooking, and (years ago) making homemade wipes.

After some trial and error, we used Nutiva Coconut Oil (smaller version than shown in my photo above). It’s available in many sizes but the bigger one lasts a good while.

If you try the run-of-the-mill coconut oil you get from your grocery store for $3.99 versus this stuff, even just for cooking, the difference in quality is noticeable. Nutiva’s consistency is infinitely better. The taste is much more delicious. It’s healthier and has an incredible number of applications.

More relevantly, it seemed to help our son’s chalazions shrink some, especially when compared with the results of the cheap stuff we had before.

[Again, I am not a doctor. If you’re allergic or reactive, don’t try it. Otherwise, it may give some relief, so read on.]

I read somewhere to try organic, unrefined coconut oil on the skin while the pores are still open to help soften a chalazion. They said to think of it in terms of oil dissolves oil. The hardened oil beneath the skin of the chalazion needs to soften in order to drain during cleaning/compress.

If you can’t use a warm compress for 10-15 minutes twice a day, apply the coconut oil immediately after cleaning with the baby shampoo and warm water. Coconut oil is anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory applied topically or ingested (see #2 here).

As you can imagine, it gets in the eyes a bit. It doesn’t sting though, and as far as I’ve read there are no ill effects of that happening other than the eyes blur a bit for a few seconds as they would with water in them. Do your own research on this to clarify, as I’m sure you will if you’ve landed on this page.

We started applying coconut oil after cleanings just before trying sulphur pellets and I think it did help to promote healing a bit as the chalazions gradually left. It seemed to help soften each one, even if it’s just in my imagination, and it didn’t bother him — bonus!

Other chalazion treatment suggestions I’ve seen from other people — I have no experience with any of these:

  1. Graphites
  2. Removing dairy from diet
  3. Massaging the chalazion to soften the oil in order to drain (kid wouldn’t let us) Edit: He eventually let us! (And hated it.) It may have helped a bit.

I’m happy to say that they did eventually go away. After our final visit with the opthalmologist, she said that he was 95% improved and would not need another follow-up appointment, and she was correct. She said this will be a recurring problem and that regular twice or three times daily cleaning will be needed on an ongoing basis.

Taken a week before this post was written.

Taken a week before this post was originally written.

I know how frustrating and time consuming it is to take care of and try to prevent this unsightly, seemingly hopeless cyst, and I sincerely hope something here will work for you too.

For me, it helps to remember that consistent cleaning and immediate preventative measures at the first sign of a problem go a long way.

I’m so glad our little boy’s eyes improved with time. My favourite recommendation: Sulphur. It seemed to make the greatest improvement once we found out about it and got some, and also seemed to take down a bout of persistent styes he had a while later.

Update +1: Salt water!

It might sound as if it stings. And it does for a quick second, if you have styes. I tried this on myself first because it sounded sketchy. Each time, my stye felt better soon after and was gone the next day. If it stung my son’s chalazions, he did not let on. He just got annoyed with all the eye stuff in general and ran the other way.

  1. Add half teaspoon to a teaspoon of salt in a small amount of very warm (not hot) filtered water. I currently use Mediterranean but have also used iodized and epsom salts with good results. Keep in mind epsom salts are not actually made of the same stuff as the salt you would consume, but both seem to help.
  2. Stir to dissolve all salt.
  3. Dip cotton ball in the solution, squeeze cotton ball so it’s not dripping.
  4. Apply lightly to the affected eye, running it gently over the chalazion. You only need to do this for about 30 seconds to a minute.
  5. Do not rinse, OR #6
  6. Do a warm compress after if you want to try and draw more of the pus out, then follow the cleaning routine above.

I’m so grateful to have read about this salt method. I don’t know if it works every time. The bigger sulphur pellets we had bought most recently at a health food store weren’t working as quickly with the latest chalazion he’d had for a month and a half. We began this doing treatment once or twice daily. The pus was almost always brought to the surface, sometimes the cyst even opened up on the spot — at which point I’d always do the gentle warm compress for as long as he’d let me, then clean and apply coconut oil.

It took a few times draining it over the course of about a week but each day we noticed improvement.

Update +2: Organic flax oil!

We buy this at our local drugstore for about $8/400mL bottle but health food stores will have it too.

Mix a teaspoon into the child’s diet daily, chalazion or not. Since we’ve incorporated this, not only has his chalazion been less inflamed, but his skin issues have improved wonderfully. (I had baby pimples and he seems to have inherited them.) I’m really not sure of the reason, but the person I read this from suggested it’s similar to the coconut oil method above.  I find flax oil has made an improvement much faster than coconut oil though, probably due to consuming it rather than using it topically.

Yeesh, I’ve said a lot here. I really hope it helps if you’re scouring the world for a solution though.

Have you had a chalazion? What have you found to be your most effective treatment? Leave a comment below!

About Nikki

I've been writing since I was in kindergarten where I Crayola-markered an epic tale of a tiger and a balloon on a stack of lined papers folded into a booklet and stapled along the edge (carefully, and by my teacher). I love DIY, sewing, folksy music, animals and getting out to look at and listen to nature.
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147 Comments

  1. Hello, how many sulphur pellets were you giving your son?

    • Hi Ileen!

      Thanks for your question! Please see this link for guidance: http://abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/181907/
      I believe 3 pellets is usually considered one dose (may vary from brand to brand?), but we always diluted it into the half litre of filtered or spring water as recommended above. No tap water, especially because we’re on a well and use a water softener.

      Research “Sulphur 30C dosage” and child’s age or weight if you have a kid who is a different age, and check compatibility with any known health conditions before using.

      I remember I looked at every website I could and consulted with my naturopath friend once I stumbled upon this because you never know what’s safe for kids. Don’t use anything you’re not totally comfortable with. We were at a desperate point, having been prescribed Tobradex and other ointments that did nothing. Eye-cleaning was helping a bit but it was slow-going, and the naturopath confirmed she had seen Sulphur 30C work on various skin and eye issues without negative reactions so we went for it. Thankfully, it worked!

      When we added Sulphur 30C to strict eye-cleaning 3-4 times a day and using the coconut oil afterward, the biggest difference was seen, and he never appeared sick or adversely affected in any way by any of these. Thank goodness. We also tried to eliminate general ‘crap’ from our diets and his. Not as much breaded stuff, for example, and more broccoli, onions, and other sulphur-rich foods.

      It was not instantaneous, but you could see a difference within a week. We did this once more (for the 3 days recommended) a couple of weeks later. They went from the size of large Skittles to pretty much nothing a short time later.

      I hope whatever you’re dealing with clears up as soon as possible. It can be so frustrating. If you do try my suggestions, I’d be interested to know if you had the same results.

  2. Hi there! Maybe I missed it, and maybe this is a silly question… But did your son drink the sulfur, or do you rub the solution on his eye? My daughter has 2 chalazia right now. The doctor recommended warm compress and baby shampoo and prescribed an antibiotic ointment. It is slow going. The warm compress is pretty much impossible as she is 14 months old. Thank you for your post. I am going to get some sulfur today.

    • Hi! Thanks for your comment.

      Sorry for being unclear. We could only find the sulphur pellets (the tiny ones seem to work much better than the ones that are about twice their size, at least for us — both are 30C strength). We dissolve the pellets into filtered water as described in the post, then give him a tablespoon every 10 minutes for 30 minutes on an empty stomach. I know that’s tough though. Empty stomach is when my kid first wakes up and he kinda wants his food right away just like we all do.

      If you can find liquid sulphur, you won’t have to dissolve the pellets or get your kid to “keep them under their tongue” which is impossible at this young age. Liquid Sulphur 30C may have simpler directions which should be on the bottle. The pellets have directions too but they involve dissolving under the tongue.

      For a quicker result: I really, really advise the salt toward the end of this post. Either epsom or (in our case) Mediterranean sea salt. It has made such an incredible and speedy difference — I only learned of it recently and we’ve had a lot of luck with the new one that’s been trying to rear its head. It draws the oil up and sometimes even opens the chalazion and drains it entirely. Of course it fills back up little by little but I find if you do it daily it doesn’t allow the chalazion to grow and promotes such faster healing. If you’re unsure if it will hurt, test it on yourself first, and try to avoid it getting into the actual eyes.

      Your doctor’s advice was the same as mine. Compresses were impossible but have gotten easier (not by much) now that he’s 2. You get to a point where you feel like you’re torturing the kid trying to help, right? I hope my post can be of some assistance though.

  3. Thank you for your post. I have tried Sulfur also and made a huge difference. My daughter just started 2 new ones out of nowhere so will be buying some again. As for the warm compress. My eye dr sells homemade little rice bags wrapped in cloth. We microwave it and wrap the warm clothe around it. So my daughter can sit in front of the tv and the compress stays warm for 10-15 minutes. This has been a life saver for us! Makes doing compresses with little ones a bit easier. I did find removing milk and yogurt made a big difference also! She had milk 2 x the week before they surfaced again so now I’m convinced she needs to stay off of it.

    • Wow. Thanks for the rice compress advice! I’m going to see if I can make some of those. I’m glad the sulphur helped. We’ve tried switching the kid off milk onto almond milk and he absolutely hated it. He loves milk and yogurt but it’s one of those things I’ve been wondering about.

      Great results lately adding a teaspoon of organic flax oil to his breakfast each morning. Try it if you haven’t!

    • I know this is way overdue but do you reckon switching to lactose free milk would help or going of dairy all together? I have three on my upper eyelid and they are pretty noticable.

      • Great question. Restricting dairy can work wonderfully for a lot of things depending on the person. We did try to switch to an almond milk and later an oat milk, but he didn’t love them. (I only drink oat or almond now, personally.) I wouldn’t want to deprive a kid of the nutrients they’re used to getting, so I wanted try to find a good substitute rather than eliminating it completely. 🙂 Since it’s for yourself, it should be easier to get the same nutrients from other things in your diet.
        Be sure to come back and let us know if it helps!

  4. Hey, thanks so much for your advice about the sulphur. I’m gonna try to buy it for myself as I’ve had this chalazion for 7 months now and tried all the home remedies.

    But one quick question if I can’t find flaxseed oil , will it be okay to take flaxseed oil tablets?

    • I hope it helps! Not 100% sure on the flax tablets as I haven’t tried them, but I can’t imagine they’d hurt! Liquid organic flax seed oil may absorb better — not sure. I found ours at the pharmacy in the vitamins section.

      Hope your chalazion bids you farewell soon.

    • Thank you for replying so quickly!
      I am 21 years old and had by first chalazion 3 years ago, I got it cut out but came back within two weeks. I then developed two more on the same eye for which I had for nearly 2 years. I woke up one day and they had completely disappeared to my delight but had suddenly shifted to my other eye.
      Fast forwarding to today, I now have 4 on my right eye and have had them for 2 months, I have tried everything from taking lacritec tablets which contain flaxseed oils (for blepharitis), fish oil tablets, warm compresses and being ocd about my eyelid hygiene. I’m now starting to wonder if it’s diet related; something i’m either eating that’s reacting with my body or something I’m missing from my diet.
      I got some ACV and castor oil so going to try these methods as well as cutting off caffeine, sugars and dairy and go from there..
      It has made my self esteem drop drastically and I don’t know what else to do anymore 🙁

      • Ugh I feel for you. They are so stubborn and it’s almost difficult to know what actually works until you try each thing out individually for a few weeks at a time, but that’s of course not always something you want to do when you want it to go away as soon as possible. I wish you the best… please let me know if anything helps!!

  5. Hi thank you so much for your blog, we have been experiencing our own chalazion nightmare, my 3 year old little boy had one appear in each eye 3 months ago one popped and went with little effort but the other one was so difficult to get rid of and was getting bigger and bigger. So since finding your post I decided to give all of the above a go as I had been trying to do the hot compresses and it was just making it look worse I was worried it would harden and never go. I tried the Epsom salt, coconut oil and sulfur tablets last Saturday and by Tuesday a small white head had appeared I continued with the treatments and it popped on Friday it’s still there but fingers crossed it gradually is going away. We have been told by our consultant that my little boy has blepharitus which is why this happened in the first place so we will have to keep doing the warm compresses and washing to keep it from ever happening again.

    I just wondered how long you kept up the sulfur tablets as it hasn’t gone completely yet on my son I’m scared to stop them incase it comes back, do you know if they are bad for you if used too long? Thanks

    • Hi Sarah!

      You’re right, blepharitis is the cause of these horrible things.

      I’m happy to hear that some of this advice may have helped your son’s chalazion. The ones our son gets are always so persistent and seem to last months too. This has happened to us twice now, for a few months each time. We still clean his eyes with baby shampoo & a washcloth twice daily as a preventative measure.

      Each time, we kept up with the sulphur until even a week or so after it looked like it was ‘done’ (that is, while the redness still remained, but no more bump). As far as I remember, I don’t *think* it is harmful to keep up with it. Our son never experienced any ill effects thankfully. You may want to research that further though.

      Not sure if you’ve given this one a try yet, and I’m hoping not to jinx it for ourselves here, but we’ve had incredibly good luck since making sure he has a teaspoon (approximately 5 mL) of organic flax seed oil every day. I usually make him toast in the morning, so I put honey, then hide the smelly flax oil in the middle, then his peanut butter. You can mix it into just about any meal about once each day. We also make sure to do the “salty treatment” as he calls it (haha) whenever we see he has itchy eyes, as it tends to draw the moisture out of the eyelid.

      I hope your son is all better soon. It’s such a frustrating thing to deal with, and it feels like it will never go away, but it does.

  6. Hello! Im very glad to have found your blog! About a month ago my daughter whos 2 yrs and 8 months has developed chalazion on her right eyelid. Ive just been doing warm compresses as recommended by an optometrist (we havent seen a pediatric opthalmologist) but i havent seen any major difference. I will try your recommendations but may I just ask, how much water do you use to dissolve lets say a teaspoon of salt? I only have iodized salt right now but will try that first.

    • Hi Naddie!

      I generally do about 1/2 a teaspoon in roughly 3 or 4 tablespoons of warm water. Distilled or filtered water is best for us I find, as we’re on a well and you never know what’s in the tap.

      I hope some of the tips from my post can help your daughter! All the best!

  7. Hello Nik! I hope its no trouble I ask you a few more questions. How are your sons eyes now, does he still gets them? And how often do you do the “salty treatment” as your son calls it, with epsom salt? So far I have seen an improvement with daughter’s chalazion on her left eye which is good news. My husband refuses for us to try sulfur, but now that she has one on her right eye as well (lower lid this time) thats slowly growing in size, I really want to try the sulfur as Im getting desperate.

    Also, have you tried eyelid wipes? I have seen a thread online wherein an opthalmologist recommended to use the Ocusoft Lid scrub (pre-moistened pads) to keep the eyelids clean and there were responses that said it had worked wonders for their kids. There is a version that was made for babies and I ordered some from Amazon as Im in Canada and cant find them anywhere, and it may take another week or so before I get it, but I will let you know how it works!

    • No problem at all Naddie! I can understand the hesitance of trying something called sulphur. I guess eventually you just get to a breaking point. Sulphur is present in eggs, broccoli, and onions so even an increase in these foods would probably have a positive effect.

      We do the “salty treatment” (haha) when kiddo says his eyes feel itchy as a preventative measure. He gets itchy eyes maybe once or twice a week. When he actively had the chalazions (he doesn’t now, knock on wood) we would do it a couple times a day, gently, either with sea salt or epsom salt. Compared to all else I’d say it made the most immediate improvement, usually first noticed over the course of a few days.

      His eyes look great now, but I hope I’m not jinxing it to say so. I have a habit of doing that. 😉

      I’m interested in these eye scrub pads you mentioned. We’re also in Canada. I would love to know how they work out for your daughter. A relative of mine who claims to get chalazions (although I’ve never seen it) recommended an eye scrub pad once but said it was painful so we didn’t try them. Maybe these are gentler? I hope so!

      Edited to add: We have tried a witch hazel based eye wash which is very gentle but unfortunately did nothing.

      Hope your little one’s situation keeps improving! Please let me know how things progress.

  8. Hello Nik! Hope all is well! Im back to give you a few updates on our chalazion nightmare.

    Unfortunately we are still dealing with it. Since I last posted, our routine now includes consistent eye washing with the eyelid wipes (more on this later), baby shampoo, warm compresses with epsom salt, and castor oil. Around Christmas time, both her eyes looked better, you couldnt even see the lumps in our pictures. But on New Years, the one on her left eye started to get bigger again. So I gave in and started to give her sulphur on January 2. But today this is so far the biggest Ive seen it, that I booked an appointment to see her pediatrician (the last time we went he didnt want to refer us to the opthalmologist as it was so small he said it may be resolved with compresses and baby shampoo). Did your son’s get bigger as well after giving the sulphur, then later drained? The thing with my daughter’s is that they havent really gotten to a point where you can see its “draining”- no abscess, no pus etc, just the lumps.

    About the eyelid wipes – because it was taking forever for Amazon to process and ship the Ocusoft Baby wipes order, I cancelled it decided to order the regular Ocusoft wipes from well.ca. Ive been using them for maybe around 2 weeks now, and because I havent seen a major improvement, Id say if the baby shampoo is working well for you, might as well just stick with that. I use the wipes 1-2 times daily, during her bath time (since the regular Ocusoft needs to be rinsed) and before bedtime, then the baby shampoo in between, during the day. Ive also been using the castor oil, which I thought was working wonders too before the other lump got big again. If I see any coconut oil next time we’re out, I might try that too. I have also ordered some omega 3 supplements for toddlers (flax oil unfortunately didnt work well with her tummy), hoping that will help. Its getting tiring trying anything new though at this point though, as I feel like nothings really helping 🙁

    The only consolation, if theres any, is that the one on her right eye- the one that appeared first about 2 months ago, has not gotten any bigger for about 2 weeks now. It now just looks like a tiny pimple on her eyelid (I hope im not jinxing myself here though lol). I am wishing and praying they both go away on their own soon as this has been an extremely frustrating experience, not to mention time consuming. I also have a 6-month old that needs attention so you can probably imagine how stressful this has been for me 🙁 Im sorry for this lengthy post! If there is anything else I find in the future that helps, I will let you know 🙂

    • Oh, Naddie! I’m so frustrated for you! I remember how stubborn our son’s chalazions were before we finally found something(s) that worked. It takes up so much of your time, so I can imagine how stressful it is with another little one too. It’s too bad that the flax seed hurt her tummy, though I feel like omega supplements could help along similar lines! My doctor had been on vacation (every single time we planned to see him) but when we finally saw him, he was noticeably irritated that all the other clinic/urgent care doctors we had seen had not referred us to an opthalmologist. Our opthalmologist was wonderful but the best advice she could give was that we had to really get in there with a cotton swab and scrub with baby shampoo. You get to a point where you feel like you’re torturing your kid. 🙁 It’s important to keep with it though. We still do it twice daily, dabbing coconut oil on the eyes afterward, as a preventative. I never want to see a chalazion again but I know we aren’t that lucky.

      Thank you for the advice on the Ocusoft. It’s too bad it hasn’t had much effect either.

      You know what I find is when we go through a “lazy” week here, that is, my husband is on vacation and we eat more fast food, our son’s eyes tend to develop the lumps again. Since I noticed this the second time, I’ve tried hard to give him balanced meals. He’s in the picky toddler stages now though, so I’m expecting if my theory is correct that we’ll see a new bump soon. 🙁

      Have you tried (or will she allow you) to do light, circular massage over the chalazion to help ‘break it up’? In my desperate hours when I was trying just about everything to help my kiddo, I would do that. He of course hated it, but I imagine moving oil around would help it start to flow again instead of sitting there congealed, which is what I’ve read it is.

      I wouldn’t lose hope with the sulphur just yet. It’s not instantaneous (though I wish so much that it was) and I don’t think it would be what is making her chalazion bigger. I remember the last time we used sulphur for a few days his bumps first appeared less ‘inflamed’. They gradually faded from there over the course of a couple of weeks; I would imagine everyone’s might appear differently before they go away though. They never visibly ‘drained’ that time when using sulphur, as I recall. They just sort of faded.
      The very first time we used sulphur, it’s very hard to tell what happened. He had HUGE chalazions then… they were horrible — I felt like everyone was staring at him. I know we noticed within a week some changes though — ones where I kept having to ask my husband if I was imagining things. They started to shrink thereafter.
      Maybe your daughter’s chalazion just needs to get to a certain point before it’s ready to fade. If the other one isn’t growing, that’s hopeful!

      I know that sulphur is used for other skin infections, and can take about 6 weeks at times to treat those — though I am not suggesting using sulphur for 6 weeks because I’ve never had to. I would try for at least a couple of weeks consistently to be sure it isn’t having any positive effect.

      Thank you for keeping me posted on your little one’s progress. Even though it feels like nothing’s helping, you’re making an effort, and without that, they do grow bigger. :/ I know this because we didn’t get into an opthalmologist from July until November 2015, and our little guy’s chalazions were huge by then. The doctors we had consulted with had no idea and had just kept giving us antibiotics.

      After being (almost annoyingly) persistent with the cleaning and with the other solutions which have fortunately helped us a lot, I am still paranoid but I can say that they do leave, and your little girl’s eyes will look perfect once again. Please keep me updated!

    • Wanted to add: Continue with the sulphur only if you feel comfortable doing so. I’m not a doctor and I can only speak of my own experience with it but if you feel it is not helping, or is having negative effects, discontinue use!

    • Hi Naddie,
      Hope you are doing well. Any progress?

  9. Hello there Nik! Ive been reading the comments here and feeling a little better that Im not alone in this battle.My daughters chalazion has, in the past week, and still is, continuing to increase in size. Her paediatrician has sent a referral to an ophthalmologist but it would take forever before we can get an appointment Ive been told. I just want to ask – did your son’s ever get to a point where the lump got big and red, looking like its about to pop? Thats how our daughter’s is looking like right now but its not draining. Its just getting bigger its scaring me. Its so unslightly it breaks my heart, Ive been crying the last few days as I feel like I cant do anything to help her. Thankfully it’s not painful for her but I just want this gone 🙁

    • Hi Ivy! I feel you, so much. 🙁 Yep, my son’s got exactly as you said. And when we first started to clean with baby shampoo at that size, it became a blood blister (once, it even oozed out — our poor kid). I believe the blood blister happened twice to one of his chalazions. The interesting thing is, the opthalmologist had told us this might happen and that it was perfectly okay. Her advice was really just to keep it clean two or three times a day, to “really get in there and clean” [she made scary, hard-scrubbing motions while she said this] with a cotton swab or wash cloth, and that it was much more common than you’d think — that it would go away on its own, and the cleaning would help speed that up a little by removing debris.
      I remember we went to Old Navy once when his chalazions were huge and a little girl in line in front of us said “Look, Mommy! A baby!” and the mom hushed her as if she wasn’t supposed to look/talk about him. Maybe the mom was just being polite or maybe she hadn’t even seen his chalazions (she was turned the other way), but I felt like she thought we weren’t taking care of him, when the truth was it every couple of hours we were doing something to try and fix it. It’s so easy to take the things we can’t fix for them to heart.

      They do go away, though. And remarkably, they don’t leave much of a sign that they were ever there. It feels like it takes forever. Please feel free to use some of these tips if you haven’t yet. I’m a huge advocate of including 1 teaspoon of organic flax oil in the diet if your child has no issue with it, and the salty scrub on a cotton ball seemed to help a lot. Sulphur has had mixed results for some people, but it worked well for us. Again, not a doctor, but these are what worked best for us.

      I hope something helps soon! Please keep me updated — even if you find another solution somewhere else, I am always interested to know what has worked!

  10. Hi NIk, I am so happy that I found your blog. I am an adult suffering with a chalazion. I noticed mine on Christmas Eve after coming home from celebrations. The bump was NOT there in the morning and I had NO warning of it. Just reared its ugly head that evening as I was taking off my makeup. Freaked out and scared, I just figured it was a stye and treated it as such. Two weeks later I was researching, “stubborn styes” and came upon this thing called chalazion. I went to the opthalmologist for a confirmation and indeed this is what I have. He gave me an ointment called Neomycin abd Polymysin and Suflates. I knew this would be useless and it was and I stopped it within a week. NO results. I found the internet much more helpful and found your blog. I just got home from the store where I bought the exact coconut oil you have and some sea salt Mediterranean. I have tried salt, but it was table salt with NO results. I find the Johnsons baby shampoo to be effective. I am on a month of this now and I am loosing sleep over this. The opthalmologist wants me back in a week to do the injection and said if that doesn’t work the surgery. I am opposed to both. Determined to figure this out homeopathically. I am frustrated, scared and beyond stressed and I miss my winged eyeliner so much its not even funny.. let alone going to work with a makeup free face makes me feel horrible. I need a hug. LOL.. thank you for being here. I am excited to try the salt and coconut oil baby shampoo combo.. and I am thinking on the flax/sulfur.
    I am so glad your beautiful baby has won the battle against those dreadful critters and I am praying we all get there too.

    • Hi Enza!

      Thank you for your comment. We’re so relieved too, and can only hope that’s it for us.

      I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. Did your doctor tell you how long to persist with the treatments he prescribed you? One thing I know about these things is they are stubborn and persistent, and you have to be just as stubborn and persistent, as annoying as it might be. That said, we had been prescribed Tobradex (which I think was a drop?) and also an ointment by doctors who weren’t specialists before we got to her, and it did nothing. Our doctor wouldn’t even suggest injection or surgery as they won’t typically do it for kids. It sounds scary, but with our boy after months I was almost wishing our opthalmologist would make an exception. It really does get that upsetting to watch.

      The homeopathic stuff does take time, but really helped us. Nothing is instantaneous with chalazions. If you can, try to get in some warm compresses a few times per day too. We never could get our little guy to let us do it for more than a minute or so, so I have no idea if they help and I’d love to hear from you if they do. I think 10-15 minutes was the recommendation, but when you have a kid, good luck with that. 😉

      One more tip, if I can offer it: Keep both eyes as clean as possible, as often as you can. Be careful what part of a cloth/cotton pad you use on your ‘good’ eye though — use a fresh part for each cleaning; our boy’s chalazions transferred to the other eye easily, and we were extremely careful.

      Good luck. Please let me know if something I’ve suggested here helps!

  11. Hi again Nik,
    I thought of a question last night after writing to you. It seems like with my chalazion it will look a bit smaller and then at some point in the day it looks filled up again. Its like its messing with me. My question is, when this thing drains, will it become a blood blister and pop and/or can it drain on the inside without becoming a blood blister? At times I think this thing is draining but never fully. They are dreadful. I have been keeping them clean as possible and not using the same cloth on both eyes. I am determined to get rid of it, but as you know, these things are relentless.
    To answer your question, my opth just said to use the ointment both inside and outside of the lid for two weeks and return if the bump didn’t go away. He examined the inside of the eye and no chalazion is there. I followed his instructions for a week, with NO results and when I read the cautions of the medication, it said long term use causes cataracts which naturally scared the living daylight out of me. That was when I researched what to do naturally. The coconut oil seems to bring it down a bit, but I feel like it fills back up. Did you also see this? I may go insane from this. I am terrified of the needles and surgery and I am not hearing great things about them in the long run. Many have said they got even more after the surgeries.. Thank you so much for getting back to me. I feel so alone in this process.

    • Hi Enza!

      I don’t want to scare you but I’ve also heard the best results came from just “waiting it out” — frustrating. For us, what worked was a combo of the ideas from my post, thankfully. As you also mentioned, I have not heard or read of a lot of positive results following surgery, even though I would still hold out hope that maybe it worked so well for some people that they never came back to all of those medical forums to discuss chalazions again. 🙂

      Cataracts?? That is scary! I wonder if the ointment we used also would have had those side effects. Eek.

      To answer your question about the blood blistering, it happened after our opthalmologist had told us to “really get in there” when we were cleaning with baby shampoo, and it happened on the outside. If your doc says the lump is not showing on the inside, I imagine it would probably happen on the outside. It really didn’t last longer than a full day or so and we were home for most of it anyway, but with him being a kid, ugh. It was hard to see.

      (Sorry, had to edit this part below.. I’m on 2 hours sleep and read something wrong. Oops!)
      I didn’t notice the chalazion filling back up, no. But! I did notice that in different lights it will look larger. Even today, in certain lights in our house (dining area for example), I always get scared that our kiddo is getting a new one.

      Don’t worry if the coconut oil doesn’t help immediately. I know how stressful it is, and you want to see any change. These things feel like they take forever… Luckily you’re starting early with any treatment. We weren’t given much of any help until something like 4-5 months after his first one surfaced. They were very well-established by then, poor kid. As you apply the coconut oil, gently massage in circles. I’ve read that helps to break up the fluid, though I have no idea if that’s true. I think more than anything, the coconut oil softens, and then prevents any extra scarring that may occur. I should post an updated picture one day, but our son’s scarring has gone down even since the last picture.

      If you’re really worried and have no dietary issues with it, I strongly recommend the organic flax oil — mixing it in somewhere that you can’t taste it seems best; I hide it between the boy’s honey and peanut butter on his toast each morning, hah. Ever since we’ve kept that a daily thing, and I don’t want to jinx it, but 1) the chalazions he had at the time healed much faster than the first bout of them (He’s had both eyes, twice), and 2) we have not had a recurrence. I don’t purport to know why exactly this seems to work, but I think it has to do with why skin is more supple and healthy when you take fish oils, etc.

      On that note, I have also heard that blepharitis (the condition that causes chalazions) is related to eczema. Our kid doesn’t seem to have eczema, but it might be helpful to know just in case.

    • Extra thing, because I am an insomniac lately… the blood blister happened during cleaning. The draining of the blood happened outwardly, with some pus drainage, but the pus mostly drained/shrunk slowly back into the skin? If that makes sense? As it had formed a hard lump and was not liquid it just slowly shrunk with treatment for several weeks before it was no longer a lump. Sorry if that’s too much info.
      Nik recently posted…What I learned when I took a leap — and why you should tooMy Profile

      • You answered my question about drainage thank u.
        I am definitely going to follow all of your suggestions and try really hard to eradicate this without surgery. I’m going to look into the flaxseeds. Where do I get them what brand how much do I take? You’ve totally intrigued me and I’m interested. At this point I’m desperate I just wanted to go away.

        • Organic flax oil here comes in a small-ish bottle found in the vitamins/supplements section of our local pharmacy, and you can definitely find it at a health food store. We buy the store brand. We use 1 tsp daily since he’s a toddler. Our bottle says 2-6 tsps daily for ages 15 and over. 🙂 I really hope something helps you soon!

  12. Thank you going to get the flaxseed oil this weekend. I’m going to think happy positive thoughts that this is going to work. Thanks again for all your research and time and also for getting back to not only me but all the people above me.

    • You’re very welcome! I’m persistent when it comes to fixing things — especially stubborn things. I hope something (or some things) I suggest are of benefit to you and everyone else reading. Thanks for your comments.

  13. Hi Nik,
    I am reading the comments on this blog. On June 12th I see you wrote that you discovered the salt washes which has helped a more speedy recovery. I am doing this as well. Not really seeing much progress with it as of yet. Sometimes the skin on the chalazion feels gritty or very dried out. Not sure if that is from oozing? I see you wrote that the salt, “draws the oil up and sometimes even opens the chalazion and drains it entirely. Of course it fills back up little by little but I find if you do it daily it doesn’t allow the chalazion to grow and promotes such faster healing”. I am seeing this also. At times the darn thing looks smaller and then I look again later on and it looks same size again. This has to be the most frustrating part. I get my hopes up and let down again. I keep reminding myself that the Dr said it was a chalazion so I don’t freak myself out with what else can it be then? Did you ever feel like it would never go away?? I am starting to loose hope.

    • Yes! The salt is a really, really big help.
      I had actually forgotten that it sometimes opened it up! Good catch! I do remembering it drying out and the chalazion shrinking. I don’t know if it was from oozing that it gritted up, or if it’s just because salt is very drying on the skin, but I know it does pull the oil up, and any movement or breaking up of that oil is progress. Otherwise it just sits and grows in our experience.

      Do not lose hope!
      To put it into perspective, our son had his first set of chalazions for many, many months (8 to 9-ish total?), and they can last over a year sometimes. :/ I would think that is without treatment however. You said this started around Christmas? (Sorry if that’s inaccurate. Toddler distractions! :))
      I think if you’re seeing any changes at all this early on, that is a great sign. If it is not constantly growing (which our son’s were for 4 months before we found a proper opthalmologist). Again, do not lose hope — even though I know it feels endless and fruitless. Keep trying, especially early on. When our son got his second bout of them around March last year, we saw him recover much sooner because we had experience with what worked and what hadn’t, and added the flax oil and salt wipes almost immediately too.

  14. Did you try apple cider vinegar and or Epson salt? By the way I bought flaxseed oil today but I’m afraid to take it because I was told if you’re high risk for breast cancer you shouldn’t go near that stuff.

    • Wow, I did not know that! Good to know. If you’re high risk, I’d avoid it then.

      We tried epsom salts a couple of times, and they seemed to work about as well as the Mediterranean sea salt (which is strange, since epsom salts apparently aren’t a true ‘salt’). I didn’t use them all that much because the sea salt was just quicker to grab out of the cupboard and seemed to help a lot.

      Apple cider vinegar would have been much too strong near his eyes, even diluted. I’ve used it as a toner for my own skin though, it certainly packs a punch of a smell, even diluted. It has a lot of great applications though, so I wouldn’t be shocked if it helped. Did you try it?

  15. Hi again, I am so sorry to keep bothering you. It seems no body on the net is active in this situation anymore, which is odd. Where did they all go? You had success and I need to find it also. I did try the ACVinegar. I didn’t have any success with it and it smells bad. I am at my wits end here. I have tried so many things. My upcoming eye apt is next Monday and he wants to inject it. I am TERRIFIED. Losing sleep over this and weight which is a good thing. I think I may be trying too many things and not giving any a true chance. I am keeping up with the sea salt and changing it up with the Epson salt, baby shampoo and I am not sure if the coconut oil is working. I use that and a neosporin ointment and or the ointment the dr prescribed, bc that also has a cortisone hoping for some shrinkage. This honestly is a nightmare. I feel so depressed and scared.

    • It’s okay!

      They literally take months to go away in most cases, and consistency with these treatments is the only thing that helped us. Even though it took forever, I am thankful that we made such an effort — given our first dealing with chalazions, I know his second bout could have lasted so much longer.

      That’s why I wrote this post to begin with, because to find anything that worked with consistency, it took up my every spare moment for weeks — reading other people’s experiences, doctors’ suggestions, naturopathic remedies suggested both online and by a personal friend who is one, then testing remedy after remedy.

      I’m not an expert by any means, but I wanted to pull most of the useful tips I found into one post because chalazions are so difficult to deal with, and because they take literally more time and persistence to heal than anything I’ve dealt with.

      So I know the stress you’re feeling. Can you bring someone with you to the doctor’s for support? I think that may help.

  16. also.. I may try fish oil instead of flaxseed oil. I don’t think its best for me to use the flax seed for medical reasons. Ughhh.

  17. I keep telling myself that it takes month which helps at times. I just hate looking like this. Its on my bottom lid right in the middle so its very obvious. I see people looking at it. Its not that big but I think bc I am working on it. I do not see any drainage at all, but I do notice that at the end of the day as I am less and less able to work on it, it fills up again. So I know if I left t alone it would increase in size. Mine is on the outside as the dr said and he said that is better. Did your son have them inside the lid or outside? I am curious as to if this thing will explode one day or just shrink? I had a boil on my face last year and with the help of a dr who squeezed it, thats when it finally drained. I was told to NOT squeeze this thing. I am tempted.
    I can bring someone with me to the dr, but I am not sure I want to go as of yet. I don’t think I am ready for the injection.

    • Outside lid, bottom center, both eyes, each time. We never saw any ‘explosion’, just a gradual disappearing along with less redness. Even if you didn’t risk infection by squeezing or lancing, I don’t know that it would help too much as the chalazion is a harder lump of oil, not really fluid like a pimple would be. I think that’s why procedure is to either inject or surgically remove it.

      It sounds like you’re doing everything you can at the moment, and that’s really the best you can do for now. Stay strong and keep reminding yourself that this too shall pass.

      • Thanks Nikki.Can you please tell me the daily wash order you used to follow like when to wash with shampoo,apply salt water mixture,coconut oil & warm compress.Am lil confused on the process.One of my daughters chalazion has become soft but it didnt pop up , its in the same state from past one month.Does it softens before popping? Please suggest it kills me to look with such big cysts on her lil eyes.

        • Our warm compresses never went well. I think that may be part of why his never wanted to drain. We were told by the pediatric ophthalmologist to do compresses a few times a day and to clean the eyes. Not sure if there was any order.

          As best I can recall, we did the salt thing 2-4 times throughout the day. Baby shampoo we did once at wakeup and once before bed, which we still do now, always with LiveClean because Johnson&Johnson have had some lawsuits that make me uncomfortable using their products. Coconut oil was usually just after the baby shampoo. Although. I may walk back on the coconut oil now as
          I’ve recently learned it can clog pores for some people. It’s all really a matter of experimentation and I’m not sure if the order matters.

          I hope your daughter’s bumps go down soon. Keep in mind that as scary as they can look, they are almost always painless and more of a nuissance than anything.

          • Thanks Nikki.I followed similar routine.one of jer chalazion secreted pus 2 days back but still size is not reduced.Is this how it drains actually?? Will it pop/just gradually reduce its size?How many months it took for your kid to become chalazion free?

          • It drains very gradually in my experience. It’s a slow process. Some pus coming out sounds like a great sign though. You may find it also changes colour to almost a blood red at one point as it drains more. The doctor told us that is normal, even though it looks scary. Our son had two of them, one for each eye. The first lasted from around July to January. :/ The second was about 4 months from start to finish, not sure if it was because we had a better routine down that time. His eyes are just fine now btw. You’d never know he had them, but the chalazions were big for all those months. I’m sure the length of time they stay differs for everyone though.

    • Hi Enza – how are you? Have you been able to get rid of your chalazion? Im interested to hear about any progress youve made.

      Hi Nik – hope all is well with your little one! I want to ask – how long did it take for your sons lumps to go away completely? My daughter’s extremely stubborn one on her lower eyelid has finally started to go down in size since last week, but really slowly 🙁 And having dealt with these nasty lil things for a few months now I know that it really takes time. The one on her other eye took 2 months to completely go away but these one has gone so much bigger and inflamed. We finally got an appointment with an ophthalmologist here in Edmonton but its not till 3rd week of March! Thats the soonest available schedule. So for now we are still on our strict routine of diligent eye washing and warm compress 4x a day. Ive also been giving her about 5ml flax oil and nordic naturals omega supplement for kids.

      • Hi Ivy,

        All is well, thank you! I’m happy to hear that at least one of these troublesome things has gone. Your efforts are surely helping!
        For our son, the first bout of the chalazions started in late June, but we thought they were styes until July 2015 when they got much bigger. We started the regular baby shampoo cleaning routine in November 2015 once we met with the opthalmologist and added the remedies mentioned in this post (except flax oil, which we didn’t know about til the very end). Judging from some old pictures I just checked, I would say the majority of the lumps were gone by mid-January 2016. Still, in December you could tell there had been significant shrinkage. By January, they were a little bit red, but the lumps were gone. Scar tissue? Not sure. So, let’s say June til January. 7 months that felt like forever.
        The second time he got them, it was in late March 2016. The left one was worse, but this time, neither of his eyes looked anywhere near as extreme as the first time. Having just looked at pictures of the dude, I’d say they peaked in mid-May 2016 (the left one was dark red and inflamed, bigger), but by mid-June you couldn’t even tell they were there anymore. Significantly shorter time — I’ll round it up to 3 months.
        Short answer: First time — 7 months. Second time — approximately 3 months.
        I hope you and your little girl don’t have to deal with this much longer. If this last chalazion is currently red and inflamed, maybe it will be like my son’s and disappear before you get to that appointment! I hope so, anyway. If it doesn’t, do not fret. You’re doing everything you can and everyone is different. Please continue to let me know how things progress. I look forward to hearing from you again.
        And yes! I would like to hear from you too, Enza! Hope you are well also.

  18. Aww, he had the same place as me. I will try and see how it goes.. thank you again. I am SO glad he is rid of this thing.

  19. I thought Id share our experience with chalazion as well, maybe it can be of help to others who’d read this post in the future

    We first noticed one on my daughter’s upper eyelid in early November 2016. Just like you we thought it was a sty. But I tend to research a lot even for minor things so after reading a few articles online about eye issues, immediately I had a hunch its not a sty but a chalazion cause it wasnt painful; it doesnt bother her at all. So we took her to her pediatrician who confirmed that it was indeed a chalazion. But it was really small, so he just recommended lots of warm compress and diligent cleaning with baby shampoo.

    About a month later in early December, we were still dealing with the first chalazion when I noticed redness on her other eye. But this one was different because her entire lower lid looked a little swollen, so for a few days I actually thought it was an insect bite. But of course it wasnt, its another chalazion. As the redness went away, what was left behind was a hard lump. So now we’ve got issues with both eyes, ugh. By late December, the one on her right upper eyelid started to subside but the one on her left lower eyelid started to increase in size. Unlike the first one which although noticeable remained relatively small (and completely went away 2 months after it first appeared), this second one in a matter of 2 weeks has gotten so big- like the size of a hazelnut, and so red and inflamed (it still hurts me to look at her pictures), and it was then we finally got a referral to the ophthalmologist (which is another long story – Ive always been thankful about our healthcare system but this time I got extremely frustrated about the wait time and the push backs I got before I got the referral).

    Due to the inflammation, my daughter was put on oral antibiotics for a week and we were also prescribed with Tobrex to use for a week. I doubt if they helped. Like you, I have tried many ways! Epsom salt, diluted apple cider vinegar, eyelid wipes, baby shampoo, castor oil, coconut oil, sulphur, erythromycin and tobrex. I was hopeful with the sulphur but unfortunately did not work for us. Out of all these things Ive tried, Id say so far whats been working for us are the following: epsom salt wash on a qtip or cotton ball followed by warm compress with gentle massage 4x a day, then coconut oil plus of course the consistent eyelid washing with either baby shampoo or eyelid wipes 3x a day. The apple cider vinegar Id say would be more helpful for an adult who can tolerate it, Ive read tons of testimonials that it worked for them. The eyelid wipes is working well for us too, but it can be drying. The new thing Im trying is a mixture of coconut oil and frankincense oil after the warm compress, Ive read that frankincense also helps with scarring. And as Ive mentioned in my last post, Ive also been giving her the omegas and the flax oil as well.

    Its been a frustrating and long journey dealing with this seemingly minor issue but Im hopeful that we are on the road to recovery. I have a feeling my daughter is prone to this too, unfortunately, as Ive noticed a new one rearing its ugly head a few weeks ago, but thankfully so far has remained under control possibly due to everything we’ve been doing so far. Its my hope and wish and prayer that we wont have to deal with this ever again!

    Lots of love to you Nikki, your post surely has helped me a lot!

    • Thanks so much for sharing, Ivy. I’m happy to help as much as I can.
      It’s funny how there can be such different methods that work best for people — the consistent thing about chalazions is how stubborn they are to leave.
      I had not heard about Frankincense to treat them! Saving that idea just in case. It could be very useful for newcomers to this comments section too. Thanks again Ivy. Speedy recovery to your little girl.

  20. Hi. I needed to write an update. I have been battling this chalazion for seven weeks today. I have tried: warm compresses, hot compresses, doctor prescribed ointment, epsom salts compresses, sea salt compresses, sea salt as an eye wash, apple cider vinegar compresses, I’m drinking ACV (a tablespoon, 4 oz water) in the morning, frankincense oil, coconut oil, gel compresses, chamomile tea compresses, supplements: fish oil, vitamin A, vitamin E, Multi vitamin and NOTHING has given me any results. I started looking into occuplastic surgeons. My last resort after the snow storm was to go and get castor oil. I felt inclined to post this because to my amazement, within the first 2 hours I noticed the thing changed in size. I thought, ok let me give it some time and see what it does. I also bought Ocusoft lid scrub because I have read many people using them and had some good results both with a current chalazion and prevention of others. They also have an Ocusoft for babies. After the scrub I did a chamomile steam treatment for 5-7 minutes. After the steam I applied the castor oil. The way I do it is I take a Q- tip and put a small amount directly on the bump. I rub it in a bit and then leave it alone. The bump is going down. Within 2 hours I noticed a difference, but now its been 24 hours and its half the size. It seems to be drying it out and reducing the size. I am in shock. I really thought nothing would work for me. I still will be doing my routine until it is completely gone. I will still take the supplements also and continue to drink the AVC, but I am sure it is the castor oil that is making a very big difference. Please all that is reading this, please try it. I am in complete amazement. I do believe what will work for one, won’t work for another and we have to find what works for us. I have found many wonderful sites on the internet including this one who have helped me. I may have gone nuts without this support. It was on a holistic site that I found the castor oil remedy and the people were promising it worked. Please, try it before you put yourself through the surgery. God Bless all and best wishes to those dealing with these dreadful things.

    • So happy to hear that, Enza! I’m open to any suggestions as I think you’re right — there is no “cure all” that works for everyone. Thank you for sharing. Please keep me posted if there’s any more progress!

  21. Will do.. and thank you for blogging for us your experiences too.. you helped me so much and allowed me to vent.
    xo

  22. UPDATE: Nothing really worked, am scheduled to see an oculoplastic surgery next week. Ugh.. just ugh.. depressed and frustrated!

    • Having gone through it twice — once for about 7 months on a baby boy who I felt like I was torturing with compresses and baby shampoo to try and help — I can imagine how frustrated you must feel. I’m sorry to hear nothing has worked for you, Enza. 🙁 Best of luck with everything.

  23. Please Enza and Nik, keep us posted about any remedie.. ENZA please tell us how the surgery will go… I have a Chalazion and it’s so depressing… I been doing everything.. And I just have a week with this.. So time consuming.. And feel devastated to read this can last even years… Thank you for sharing your time with us..

    • Will do, Sully. If you haven’t already done so and you can find the time, look through everyone’s comments here and see what others have tried. I know how time consuming and disheartening chalazions can be. Hope something helps you soon!

  24. I go in tomorrow to see the oculoplastic dr. Not sure if he will do the procedure tomorrow or if it’s only a consult. I’m terrified, but want this thing gone. Mine has come down a bit. People say they don’t even see it only in certain light but if you touch it, it’s really hard and feels like a BB is lodged in there. I will keep you posted.

  25. Hi. Back for an update: had the chalazion surgery yesterday. The doctor said that where mine was at that point, it would never have resolved on its own. It was so hard at that point. The surgery itself was not fun. The shot that they gave you to numb the eyelid is beyond painful and after that you only feel pressure. They clamp it down so you feel that and there’s a lot of tugging and pulling but I have to say the entire procedure was between five and 10 minutes it was so fast it was over before I knew it. Then I apply pressure for a little while talk to you for a little bit and send you on your way to pick up prescription eyedrops at the pharmacy list. My eye right now is a tiny bit swollen where you could see he made the incision. Mine was done from the outside I’m not sure why sometimes they do it from the inside. I have a small little cut but it’s not bad at all. I will post another update in a couple of days.

  26. Hi There,

    I’m so glad I found this– my son has had a chalazion for about a month and a half. He’s four and resists every attempt to treat it (we’ve been using hot compresses, epsom salt baths where I wipe down his eyes with a cotton washcloth). Nothing seems to help. It looks like he has a black eye (except it’s not black, it’s more like a ruddy red). Our eye doctor has told us to aggressively massage it (which I’ve been trying to do, but my son is like a judo master at blocking me!). We have another appointment next Thursday and the doctor said if it isn’t better, he may recommend surgery, which, because of his young age, will also require general anesthesia. I’m so uncomfortable with this idea… a few questions. For anyone who has had the survey (ENZA?) Does it leave a scar?? Has anyone else had the surgery for their little one?? Thanks so much for your advice
    Suzanne recently posted…Happy Hearts Day!My Profile

    • Poor little one. Hopefully Enza can give you a few pointers!

      Hope it gets better soon so you don’t have to worry about surgery.

  27. I’ve been reading and re-reading your post for days now. My daughter is on her second chalazion. The first one started in august of 2015. I don’t remember when it went away but it was relatively small so we didn’t worry over it. We did see an ophthalmologist who said it was a chalazion and he could surgically drain it. She was 3 so I said no thanks. Her second one appeared on her left upper eyelid just after Christmas and has continued growing. We’ve tried all kinds of treatments at home- warm compresses, ACV, bentonite clay mask, eye washes, massages, etc. I can’t tell that any of it makes a difference. I have recently started washing her eye and following up with coconut oil. Again- I don’t know that it’s helping but I don’t think it hurts her (the apple cider vinegar stung). I’m waiting on sulphur to arrive today and we will start that. I’ll also try the salt. Just need to get some spring water since we normally drink from the tap.

    On another note- you’ve got a great blog. Would you ever be interested in writing for an online magazine? Dailymom.com? I’d love to work with you.

    • Oh no! Hopefully the sulphur and salt water will help your daughter. How long did her first one last?
      I think we considered using ACV once and I wimped out at the last second because it is strong. Our son never resisted the coconut oil, and I tried it on my own eyes — doesn’t seem to bother him, definitely never bothered me. I think overall the organic flax oil being in our son’s diet for the past year has done the best for him, or maybe it’s coincidence.

      I appreciate the kind words, Ashley! Looks like a great site, and I’d love to know more. Could you please send some info about contributing to nbacso AT outlook.com? Thanks so much!

      I hope your little girl’s eye is soon on the mend. Please do let me know if anything changes.

  28. Thank you very much for your post, my daughter (18 m.o.) has a chalazion in her right eyelid right now and I panicked because she has already had another one in the left eyelid last year and it was huge and it took like 5 months to go away with antibiotic and dexamethasone ointments (prescribed by an ophtalmologist). I will definitely try your tips, and I hope they will work, because I don’t want other children to look at her funny at the park, I feel so bad, even if she is little, she notices that.

    Just a silly question: Do I give the sulfur every day? The local homeopathy website recommended to use it once a week, but they do not specify for which condition (sulfur has many many uses) so I am not sure…

    Thank you very much for your help.

    • Hi Johanna, thanks for your comment! Sorry to hear about your little girl. We’ve been there twice, so I know the feeling. The second time, we used the methods I’ve given here from the get-go and the chalazions cleared up months sooner than the first time. Have a look through the comments here if you have not yet. There are some helpful observations along the way.

      As to your question about the sulphur, please see the reply dated 2009-05-19 on this site. This is the guideline that I used for dosage for our son. He had no ill effects from the sulphur that we were aware of. Its name sounds much more intimidating than it is. I am not sure if the once a week guideline might be for prevention of conditions or ‘maintenance’, but in my travels (and on the bottle) it recommends daily usage for treatment.

      I hope this helps! Wishing your little girl a quick recovery.

  29. Hi Nik and everyone else reading,

    I have decided to write an update about my daughter’s chalazion on her left eyelid. When it “peaked” in January, it was about the size of a hazelnut. It was HUGE, inflamed and literally an eye sore. At that time like what I have written in the past, I have tried everything. We saw her ophthalmologist in mid March, by then the lump has already started to subside, but its still there and still a little bit red. He said that really the best way of dealing with it is through warm compress and keeping her eyelids clean. He did not prescribe any ointments as at that time as its not infected. He also confirmed that Omega 3s help in decreasing the risk of waxy build up within meibomian gland. By then I was already giving her the Nordic Naturals Omega 3 fishies supplement. Then we went for a vacation in the Philippines for a month – and no kidding, on our second day I can see an improvement in her eyes. It might be a coincidence for sure – but it lead me to suspect maybe weather plays a role? It was so hot and humid when we were there, my husband and I were joking that we didnt have to do the hot compress since the weather was already doing that for us lol (and yes – while we were there I think I only managed to do her warm compress maybe 5x in a month, and it didnt get any bigger). As of today, there is still a tiny scar on her eyelid but its getting better everyday thankfully.

    We got back here in Canada in mid April and 2 weeks after we came back her right eyelid – both upper and lower started to swell. Exactly how the nasty lump on her right eye started. So I immediately started doing the warm compress again, about 4x a day, and kept her eyelids clean with Ocusoft eyelid wipes, and recently we started using the We Love Eyes cleansing oil (I read that tee tree oil helps maintaining healthy eyelids). Thankfully it has since subsided and no lumps this time. I can still see the “dots” inside her lower eyelids when I kind of invert or lift it, but thankfully it did not develop into a chalazion. Her ophthalmologist it may be a predisposition of blepharitis so for now we are keeping an eye on it.

    Out of everything I have tried, and I posted before I have tried A LOT, for us in the end – the consistent warm compress, eyelid cleaning and omega 3 supplement are whats working. I decided to post as maybe others can find the products Im using helpful, too 🙂

    • Thank you so much for your update, Ivy! That is amazing. Do you think diet may have played a part while you were in the Philippines too? The reason I ask is (as you said, Omega 3s seemed to help) that I remember reading about a lady with the same issue who happened to have family in the Philippines. While there, they took her daughter to the doctor, who suggested flax oil, because Western diets seem to lack it and similar oils. I’d bet you’re right that the humidity was a significant factor! I find the flax oil has made the biggest improvement for us, at least as far as preventative measures.

      Maybe now that my kiddo is a bit older and more tolerant (sometimes, haha) I can try compresses the next time a chalazion tries to pop up. I’ve been seeing Omega vitamins for kids. Maybe I’ll pick some up! I’m also glad you found something that sounds gentle containing tea tree oil.

      I should really make a followup post with all the suggestions people have made here that worked for them. Thank you again!

  30. Thank you! I will try the salt water mix and keep washing/warm compress. It’s good to hear that it can take awhile, I was getting a little antsy but figured a doctor’s prescription wouldn’t help much at this stage.

    • You’re welcome Jessi! The only thing we were ever prescribed by doctors who were unfamiliar with it was Tobradex (maybe it was a child’s variation of this?) and it did nothing. 🙁 The opthalmologist never prescribed a thing, just advised thorough cleaning and compresses. Hopefully it clears up quickly!

  31. I’m not sure if you are any of the other moms found a good/fast acting remedy for the chalazion, but I came across your site when looking for something for my daughter. She’s 3 and gets these too. Of course, we had never heard of them. They got absolutely huge, so much so, that I can’t even look back at pictures of her without wanting to cry. We saw a specialist multiple times and did absolutely everything they were telling us to do and prescribing, but nothing was working and they were continuing to get bigger. We ended up having to have them surgically drained. It’s definitely not what we wanted to do, but it’s what we had to do. Anyway, all that to say, two more started showing up in the exact spots they were drained >:( This time was not about to put her through surgery again and I was determined to find something else and fast. i prayed and I believe God brought us what we needed and it happens to be one of the gifts given to Jesus- frankincense! The wise men obviously were wise and knew it would be a great gift 🙂 I have cleaning her eyes with baby soap 3x a day, then doing warm compresses in epsom salt 2-3 times a day, and then rubbing pure frankincense oil on the chalazions. I’ve only been doing it for 10 days and one looks to be completely gone and the other is almost gone! I read up on it and frankincense is good for cysts and it’s an oil that is gentle enough to use on the eyes. My 3 year old never complains. She also has been doing allergy eye drops 2x a day, prescribed by the doctor (I don’t know if that’s making a difference or not, but he told us to do them for 30 days). I will try to upload photos. The difference in the frankincense compared the steroid cream is amazing. I don’t like the idea of steroids and it was obvious it wasn’t very effective compared to the frankincense.

    • Thank you for this suggestion Mariah! I had no idea frankincense was safe near the eyes. Sounds like it’s doing a great job for your little girl. Hope she’s all better soon! I’m going to have to read up on it now.

    • If you don’t mind me asking, what allergy eye drops did they recommend giving her? I have read about several people using allergy eye drops with good results so I was just curious what brand you used.

    • Hello Mariah! I am dealing with chalazions with my little girl & have tried everything. I am going to try frankincense. Can you tell me what brand you used? Thank you!

  32. Sorry for the words missing in my comment above, but I had to share it with you all because I know the struggle and I want you all to have your little baby’s eyes back to normal like I’ve wanted for my daughter. I can’t figure out how to upload a photo and it won’t let me copy and paste, but I desperately want to show you the amazing results and encourage others to try it too. If there’s a way for me to send the photos to you, please email me 🙂

    • Mariah, what did you find to help your kiddos chalazions the most? We are in our 4th month of treating our daughters and have doe epsom salt compresses, daily eye wash, warm compress, massage, omega supplements, apple cider vinegar, tobradex,Frankincense, castor oil…and the list goes on. I would love to hear what worked for you guys.

  33. I stumbled upon this post b/c my just turned 4 year old daughter has chalazions under both her eyelids. The first one showed up around Thanksgiving and the new one of the other eye came around the new year. We have tried warm compresses, apple cider vinegar, breast milk and anything else I read about possibly helping. We bought the pre moistened eye lid wash pads and nothing seems to be doing anything. Can you describe how you washed your son’s eyelids with the baby soap? I just tell her to close her eyes and i count to 20 and rub the pad across her eye lids but the dr had said she could see a couple glands blocked on her one eye so I guess I don’t know how “hard” or aggressive to wash them to achieve the results we need. Any help you can give would be much appreciated. I don’t like people noticing them on her face and certainly don’t want to have to resort to surgery but I feel like the first one just keeps growing and I don’t see any changes. Also, the first one doesn’t have a head on it at all so will that play a role in the draining process?

    • I used baby shampoo and a q-tip to apply it, then wiped it away with warm water on a fresh washcloth. The opthalmologist suggested to pull the lid slightly away from the eye and scrub but I just couldn’t do that to our little guy. You don’t want to hurt them, traumatize them so they never want you to do it again, and/or cause scarring. I did pull the lid back, but I was pretty gentle. It’s a process for sure.

      My best advice is to get a referral to the opthalmologist. I’m sure they’ll tell you the same thing. We found dissolving Mediterranean salt (just what we happened to have) into warm water and lightly rubbing with a cotton ball helped a lot to bring it to a head. It’s scary when it does start to drain and sometimes involves a bit of blood. Don’t worry too much (though I know that’s hard). Just keep it clean and consult with a doctor. Tobradex ointment, etc, didn’t work for his chalazions, so if they try to prescribe you that keep in mind it may not work as well as keeping it clean often throughout the day.

      Again, I’m not a doctor, I just consulted with a lot of them before we found the opthalmologist. She also suggested compresses, but our little guy wouldn’t let us do them for long enough, which likely prolonged the problem.

      I hope your daughter’s chalazions are better soon. I know how frustrating it can be. Please scroll through the comments if you haven’t. A lot of good suggestions here.

      • We took her to a pediatric opthalmologist over the summer for a different chalazion on her upper eyelid and she said warm compress and the cleaning with pads or baby soap. It went away within a couple weeks. This one I was doing the same treatment at home since I knew that was what the dr would suggest and when that hadn’t worked over the course of 6 weeks I thought I would have her look to make sure she didn’t have any other suggestions. We have done massage as well although on the lower eyelids that is very tough. I just wish the one from thanksgiving would have a head on the inside b/c I feel like it won’t drain if there isn’t even a head on it. Maybe I’m wrong in that assumption though. The one that came in the last 2 weeks has a white head on the inside of the eyelid so I’m praying that goes away soon. My one son has had one in the past also and never saw one actually drain they just seemed to go away. The pediatric opthamologist said do those treatmenst for 2 months and if we don’t see changes schedule an appt with the surgeon to see what they recommend. We scheduled an appt with her in March and we plan on doing any and all treatments we can in hopes that they are healed prior to then and we can cancel the appt. It is only to meet with her and discuss what she recommends and not scheduling the surgery itself. The first dr even said that hers is very small and most likely they wouldn’t recommend that route but since we have been doing 4-5 warm compresses daily for 2.5 weeks and massage and cider vinegar and tobradex (which did nothing) and multiple eye washes daily, I just wanted to set the appt in case nothing changes by then and I’m not waiting till summer to have someone else take a look and offer their opinion. I am just praying all the comments and wonderful advice I read on here can help us get some results b/c as you know it’s challenging to find time in a busy mom’s life to spend this much time treating something and you see no change at all. It is frustrating and you feel like nothing is going to work.

      • Hello with this particular chalzion that you describe above, was it one that was large and red. My daughter has a large red one on upper eyelid that’s about the size of a small gumball. It’s red and inflamed and opthamologist says if not gone in one month she will need surgery. I’m hopeful that I can find something to resolve this before then. I’m curious if at any point your sons had gotten to this point, and you still had success with it being so red and large? I really want to avoid surgery at all cost and understand it’s a process. She has had for about 2 1/2 months and it has gotten worse. I’ve only done the warm compress in the past, but going to start this regimen ASAP. Is there any chance that I may see this thing resolve in a month based on your experience and at what point did you feel you were in the road to recovery. If it started to get smaller and less red then you knew it was going to resolve?

        • I’m glad you asked this. I recently saw a picture of him from one of his haircuts during the time he had his chalazions. He had one on each eye, on his lower lid. In this picture, they were so inflamed (probably because he has a tendency to cry during haircuts, but smile afterward for the camera), and I had forgotten just how severe they were.
          Small gumballs is a perfect explanation of what they looked like.
          We went to the opthalmologist shortly after this and began the baby shampoo a few times daily, and the sulphur and organic flaxseed oil a little after that. With the baby shampoo, the chalazions became blood blisters at one point, which was what we were warned would happen. That was maybe a week in. She had told us to sort of massage the chalazions with the compress as we did it, but we didn’t get far with compresses really as mentioned in my post, because he wouldn’t let us do them for long enough.
          I would say within a couple of weeks of using the shampoo combined with the sulphur and coconut oil my husband and I were asking each other every day “Doesn’t it look like they’re shrinking?” With use of the sea salt, it seemed to work even faster.

          It still took a couple of months to go away after this, but the doctor agreed that they were shrinking and yours probably would not recommend surgery if he/she saw they were shrinking. Our doctor never wanted to push surgery and his chalazions were massive. I’m so glad we didn’t have to put him through it as he was still so tiny.

          With the coconut oil, the things I’d recommend are: 1) don’t cheap out, and 2) try to gently massage it in circles. It is possibly part of the reason the chalazion starts to break up faster.
          I really hope something helps.

  34. About how many days of treatments did you do before you noticed your sons eye improving?

    • It’s been a while now but I think it was about 2 weeks or so before my husband and I started saying to each other “Does it look like it’s going down? I think it’s going down” for the one eye especially. Overall it took a couple of months once we started the routine. Saw the opthalmologist in November, I think I added the salt water about a month after that… both seemed to go away by end of January. In March he got them again — which was so frustrating — but they cleared up by around May or June I think because we had more experience with what worked for him last time.

      Your daughter’s chalazions will improve, it just takes time which as you said, we don’t have a lot of with our busy lives. We were doing treatments about 3-4 times a day when they were at their worst, and about 2-3 times daily when they improved.

      Hope your situation improves ASAP. Please update us when you start to see improvement. <3

  35. Wow! I’m so late to the party this is the first time I’ve had a stye turn into a chalazion. Hot moist compress and coconut oil (which doesn’t hurt in your eyes at all) helped draw out the oil stuck in the clogged follicle. It is what worked the best! Antifungal and antibacterial properties are a plus as well.
    Also a cooked hot boiled egg wrapped in a moist cloth to Massage the bump was also a great source of heat and hot compress. Thanks for this great article!

  36. I have a question. When your son had them were they firm to the touch? The one she has had since November is very firm to the touch when I try to massage it. I mean it moves around but it feels firm enough that I wonder how it will soften up and drain. I just don’t know if others that have them have more of a soft ball feel or if others have had luck getting rid of chalazions that already feel very firm to the touch. I am hoping the firmness doesn’t play a role in the likelihood of them being able to be treated without needing surgery. The initial one that is about 2.5 months old still doesnt have a head on it, just redness on the lower inner eyelid and the feeling of a firm pea when you touch it. Any advice would be great. Thanks

    • That’s exactly how his felt. I found when we added organic flaxseed oil to his toast for a while they began to soften up more. (Oil dissolves oil; not sure if that applies here but it seemed to help.) We were trying so many things at once that it can be hard to pinpoint what helped most — it was likely a combination of various methods we found to work with time.

  37. So it’s been a month since we saw her pediatric eye dr and we have been doing warm compresses, epsom salt, tried ACV, and ive been trying like 20 seconds of massage using coconut oil after the compresses and haven’t seen any change. Her chalazions are on her lower eyelids (both eyes) and I feel like her eyelids are just always pink. I don’t know if thats b/c I’m constantly having to either wash them or put compress or massage and it just makes them irritated or what exactly but I feel like the redness is more noticable than the chalazion itself. Did anyone else experience the redness along the lid line? I don’t know if there is anything to treat that or what. I ordered frankincense and castor oil to add to the regimen but I just feel so frustrated bc the redness only adds to how noticeable her little eyes are. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
    For the sulphur, can you tell me how long her took them and how much/how often you gave them? I think that will be the next step.

    • The eyelids do stay red or pink as it’s healing as I remember many of our pictures his eyes were more defined. Depending on the size of the sulphur pellets, use the dosage given on the side of the container. We did it the second time for as long as he had them which was a few months. The first time he had them we probably did it about as long (he had them for around 7 months the first time so I’d say he had sulphur for maybe the last 2 or 3 months). We had teeny tiny pellets and I dissolved a few into a half cup or so of filtered water and gave him a teaspoon or so of that water daily. He never had any ill effects from it and it seemed to help.

      • I bought the sulphur online and we are going to give that a try. So basically you took a half cup of water and added like 3-4 pellets in the water? And literally he just had a teaspoon of that only once water per day? So that half cup lasted a long while I’m assuming? I looked on Abc homeopathy and couldn’t find a good dosage answer.

        • Yes. I asked my friend who is a naturopath and that was her advice. Note: It takes forever to dissolve so you may be stirring a while.

          • so its just a teaspoon once a day or a tablespoon??? sorry I thought you mentioned once every 10 minutes so im trying to make sure i give the right amount…. like a teaspoon every 10 minutes for 30 minutes (1 tablespoon total) per day?

          • Yes. Although — full disclosure — I am not sure we always remembered to do the 3 full teaspoons as morning life with little ones is always quite hectic. Best to set a timer.

          • ok thanks. On the sulphur vial that the pellets came in it says for children 2 pellets 4 times a day. I just feel like thats alot compared to say 4 tablets dissolved in a half cup of water and only taking a tablespoon each day. So your maybe only ingesting maybe one pellet in that tablespoon? B/c wouldn’t that half cup of water last like a week if your only taking a tablespoon at a time. That the only dosage info I can find for kids.

          • From what our friend/naturopath told us, the water bottle is the better dosage. It dissolves and distributes better? I’m not sure how homeopathic stuff works, honestly. But I definitely noticed a difference using it. It faded from an inflamed red to a softer pink and the lump got smaller over a few weeks’ time.

  38. Hello,
    This am I took my daughter to her appt with a pediatric eye surgeon for her opinion on her chalazions. She said she thought the newest one was looking like it will go away but the original one from November was still there and about the size of a pea. You don’t notice it unless she looks up and then you can see it. She prescribed tobradex and a zpack and said if in 2-3 weeks we don;t see improvement that she would recommend having the procedure to drain them. Honestly just the thought made me emotional. I really dont want to have to go that route at all. We have been doing 3-4 (12 minutes each) warm compress and eye scrubs daily along with coconut oil and massage and frankincense and castor oil and I just don’t notice the size of the ball getting smaller or softer. Not sure how often or how exactly the epson salt washes should be exactly but I am just dreading having anything else done if these dont go away. I have read about sulphur and graphites and silica but don’t know the amounts or frequency or anything like that. I just don’t know what to do to avoid surgery. Can anyone offer any help?

    • Hi Chelsea,

      I really hope Tobradex helps your daughter — be sure to do the full course of it. Everyone who gets these blasted things seems to be affected differently by various treatments. That said, Tobradex did not help our boy — it was one of the first things prescribed to us about 2 months in. His first set of chalazions lasted about 7 months. The second time, since we knew better what we were dealing with, I think they lasted about 3 months. (Still a long time, but I felt like we must have found what worked for us if it healed faster .)

      We didn’t try graphites or silica and I wouldn’t know how. Epsom salts or even Mediterranean or Himalayan salt eye washes (with the eyes gently closed to avoid stinging while still keeping salt/water in contact with the chalazion) actually made a significant difference for us. I just put a bit of salt into a small bowl/ramekin and mixed with warm R/O water and used a mini whisk to dissolve. The water doesn’t need to be R/O but since we live on a well I like to err on the side of caution; we only have to test the well water every 6 months or so. So, filtered water anyway. For each eye, I took a fresh cotton ball and gently rubbed the eye in soft circles. He didn’t seem to be hurt by this, but you may want to test on your own eyes first just in case.
      We did this about twice a day.

      Sulphur helped us too. The safe dosage is generally on the side of the container. Put that into about 250mL (1 cup) of filtered water (warmer or lukewarm was easier for me to dissolve them in, and it takes some good stirring to get them to dissolve). Feed like a medicine with a teaspoon or a medicine cup to the 5mL mark. I haven’t done it in a couple of years so my memory may be failing me, thus my earlier comments may conflict with this. Save that water and give 1 tsp in the morning for a week. See if they start to shrink. The combination of using salt water washes and sulphur was when things really seemed to shrink for us.

      I hope something helps. I can totally understand not wanting to subject your babe to surgery. It was one of my fears too. <3

      • I don’t know if it matters but hers are on the interior of her lower eyelid so would the epsom salt water still help since its more on the inside of the eyelid and not the exterior? Just because obviously the salty mixture won’t be coming in contact with the chalazion (just on the outside of her eyelid) I don’t know if that makes sense. Anything that I am applying topically isn’t coming in contact with the interior of her eye where the chalazion is, just more or less rubbing on where the bump is (on the outside)

        • To be honest I am not sure, since my son’s were mostly on the outside of the lid, though some of the first one’s mass was on the inside as well (poor kid, it was huge). I think applying epsom salt works to draw the pus outward from the spot of application. Not sure it would be safe on the inner eyelid however.
          One tip our pediatric opthalmologist gave us was to use a q-tip and tear-free baby shampoo and to “really scrub” inside the lid to break up what we could from behind the lid. We did not “really scrub” because I didn’t want to traumatize him, but I would lightly go along the lid-line with it. I don’t really know if it helped or not. :/ But I figured I’d pass that along because I guess baby shampoo is okay to contact with the eye? I tested it myself and it still stings like a mofo when I have a stye, though those are different composition so that could be why.

          • Hopefully that means the scarring wouldn’t be as bad if she would need surgery. I just feel like all the hints people give are for putting things topically on the outside and nothing seems to be helping b/c of hers being on the inside.Other than the sulfur which at this point I just may do. I feel defeated which not seeing any change.Maybe I will pull her eyelid out and just rub a q-tip along the inside of her eyelid and see if she will let me. I will give it a try I guess. I have read where people did an eye rinse with salt water but again these were adults so I don’t think she would ever let me do that.

          • It’s so frustrating. 🙁 If your family doesn’t have a predisposition to breast cancers, try adding 1 teaspoon of organic flaxseed oil to her breakfast or dinner. We did that for a long time during treatment and after. I can’t say for sure if it helped but I read it on several sites regarding chalazions and it didn’t seem to hurt. A couple of sites I found searching Google just now:
            http://www.honolulueyeclinic.com/blog/?tag=flaxseed-oil and https://patient.info/forums/discuss/need-some-advice-blepharitis–300426
            Both make mention of flaxseed oil as a long term treatment for blepharitis (the condition which causes chalazions to form).

            I’m glad she lets you do compresses, even if you’re unsure they are helping. Our son wouldn’t let us do much more than hold the compress to his eye for a few seconds at a time.

          • So I’m just trying to clarify you saying your son’s were on the outside. Did you ever see a “head” on your son’s chalazions? Basically from the outside looking at her face, it looks as though she has a little ball under her eyelid and then when you pull her eyelid down you can see that the inner eyelid is red and where the chalazion is on the inner eyelid. Does that make sense? I had hoped she would let me wipe on the inner eyelid but she does not let me do that at all. We are 1 week into the eye drops and they are making her chalazion more red and pronounced in appearance for sure but I don’t know if that means its doing something or not…I’m betting not. I would like to do the salt or coconut oil but I guess Im just not sure if putting them on the outside is doing anything.

          • I’m pretty sure most of the heads he had were on the outside, though when I pulled the lid back you could see the inflammation there too. Have you requested a referral to a pediatric ophthalmologist? All the doctors we saw before her prescribed us ointments like Tobradex and they unfortunately did not help our son. She confirmed those were not usually helpful.
            I would probably still try the salt on the outside. Salt draws moisture out, so maybe trying a gentle massage after a warm compress and then the salt might help. We always followed up his eyewashes with coconut oil; I imagine you could do the same after the saltwater. Most of the time we were trying everything at once. I hope something helps!

  39. Hi Nick,
    Can you pls tell me how and how much did you give to your son the sulphur? I am going to try it for first time. He is just 1yr with horrible chalazions 🙁 thanks.

    • So sorry to hear that. Please see my reply to Chelsea for dosage.

      • Thanks for the help. Yes we originally saw a pediatric eye dr in January and then just saw a pediatric eye surgeon at the end of March. Obviously she said if the drops and z pack didnt work in 2-3 weeks to schedule surgery and to her that is no big deal. We on the other hand are really trying to avoid that choice and keep hoping something starts working. She is always warm. Loves to be in just her undies and its winter here in Ohio and I have read the post about traveling to a warmer and humid climate and somehow that solved the problem. We are going to Florida in June and I am hoping and praying that does the trick. But honestly my hopes are low at this point for anything to work. I think sulphur needs to be our next step.

        • Ah, I totally get it. I would also want to avoid surgery on my little one (though our doctor never considered it an option for him, despite his chalazions being huge).
          As intimidating as the name sounds, sulphur occurs naturally in lots of things we eat every day like onions, broccoli and eggs. 🙂 You could start by adding more of these to her diet, provided she isn’t allergic — or even sensitive, as our son was reactive to eggs for a while. If you’re able to consult with a naturopath, they may have more suggestions and more information on the safety of sulphur as a homeopathic remedy. I really hope a trip south will help, and that it’s started resolving itself well before that.

          • So did you doctor never mention it b/c he thought they would go away eventually or b/c of your son’s age or what exactly? I would love to have a dr that didn’t feel surgery was an option and was willing to wait. Granted we are waiting regardless but it was her go to solution after trying these drops. Now obviously if I’m talking to an eye surgeon I shouldn’t have been shocked that she recommended surgery like it was no big deal b/c to her it isn’t. We have been doing the tobradex eye drops roughly 2-3 a day for about a week and a half and I would have to say the chalazion looks more pronounced and more red. Not sure if that is a good thing like maybe its coming to a head or what exactly but it is far more noticeable while taking the steroid drops then it was prior. Today i mixed epsom salt with water and took a q-tip and dabbed it on the inner eyelid so I’m praying that helps. I figured it’s no different than salt water from the ocean getting in her eyes so hopefully that does something.

          • I think our doctor may have just been a proponent of waiting it out. Plus she works with kids all the time and she may be a mom, so possibly more sympathetic to the process surgery might be on a child VS an adult. Also I don’t believe she was a surgeon. She was at one of Canada’s best known children’s hospitals — though I don’t know if she’s still there.

            I always found the chalazions to look less pronounced when they were finally leaving, a little faded in colour, and we’d find ourselves asking each other “Is it shrinking??” a lot more though we were never sure. It definitely looks redder immediately after a baby shampoo eyewash because of the pressure applied, but usually settles afterward.

            I’ve never swam in the ocean before — does it sting the eyes? If she didn’t cry I guess you’re doing well. I honestly have no idea if you should use it on the insides or not. Sometimes we used Mediterranean or Himalayan salt with warm water on a cotton ball (I realize these salts are entirely different composition than epsom salts), but that was always on the outsides or just along the eyelids with his eyes not too tightly closed. He found it pretty soothing and would often ask for it when his eyes were itchy.

  40. So happy to have found this site. I’m presently using sea salt and warm water on my 10 months old chalazion along with castor oil. Seeing improvements and will aim for 3 to 4 compress instead of 1 to 2 per day. I have tried everything else and schedule for surgery Aug 20th but praying it will disappear before.

    • I hope it starts to disappear before too, or even just decreases in size. When it starts to shrink it’s on its way out, in our experience. It does take a while though. Good luck with everything!

  41. Hi, I hope your babies lumps are gone and all well now. Im an adult and yet its a struggle so I can only imagine how it is for them. I have also found that the salt method helps to prevent it growing bigger, and if I catch it on its first day, its gone by the next day. I have two hard lumps left from my styes/chalazions, is it too late to try the baby shampoo? What exactly does it do? Irritate and make it pop?

    • Hi Suza.
      Our pediatric opthalmologist said the baby shampoo was necessary to reduce any debris that might be contributing. She also said we should “really get in there and scrub” but with a toddler it wasn’t really feasible to do so. It did become a blood blister soon after we began to clean it with the baby shampoo regularly though, so I imagine it helped to drain it in some way. I’ve even had luck with baby shampoo on my regular styes (like you said, if you catch it the first day or so, it will disappear after a cleaning with either the salt or shampoo). I found after keeping up with it, the shrinking was still slow going but it didn’t continue to grow. Using the salt water consistently (sometimes 3-4 times a day) was a big help in shrinking the chalazions, as was adding Omega 3s in the form of organic flax oil to his diet.

      I hope something helps you soon. <3

      • Hey Nikki, thank you so much for your replay and detailed explanation. Im going to try the shampoo, I feel the warm compress also helps. I have something called Thera Peral that I heat up in micro 15 secs, its not unplesantly warm and its comfy so your boy would maybe be able to bear out the 15 min 🙂 I think it sells all over the world. Good luck and hope he gets all well and never has to struggle with this again. I had it when I was a kid, and for the last 10 years I have not had any until now. I was just washing my face morning and night and cleansed my eyes with eyebath water bought at pharmacy. I think there are periods of life where we are more prone to this.. and other more stable periods.

        • Thanks Suza. Yeah we’ve found it was during his more stressful growing stages that he got them most. Eek. Hard to stay stress free as an adult these days. Thank you for sharing your experience and the products you’ve tried! Every bit helps!

  42. Hello! My son had surgery 2 weeks ago to remove his chalazion he had. Then 5 days after surgery I see another one coming on on the same eye just on the top rather than the bottom. We have been sooo persistent with the baby shampoo cleaning (3 times a day for 30 secs each eye) and hot washcloth for 5 minutes 3 times a day. When I called my doctor he prescribed us an oral antibiotic. We have been on it now for a week and it’s still there. SOO FRUSTRATING!! I am going to the store tomorrow to get salt, coconut oil and flaxseed oil. Thanks so much for your in sight. Really helps!! These things are so damn annoying!

    • Ugh! Poor kid! Chalazions really are awful, and so persistent.

      We have also added an Omega 3 gummy vitamin to our son’s morning routine and it has done wonders for his skin (and possibly his eyes because the organic flaxseed oil contains it!). You may want to consider it too if there is no family history of breast cancer — something I’ve heard can be affiliated with Omega 3/6/9s but I’m not 100% well-versed on that. You may want to research further.

      I really, really hope some of the suggestions here (including the many, many ideas found here in the comments) can help your son. It’s as frustrating for them as it is us as I remember my kid just wanting to be left alone when we did the compresses especially.

      Best of luck!

  43. I am having a terrible time with chalazions right now. Two surgeries in two months. Both times it seemed to be healed then reappeared over night. I’ve been trying hot presses but not sure if they actually make a difference. The problem is I live in Vietnam and the air is absolutely filthy! ATM it appears to be a blood blister, so I’m going to continue with hot presses for now. I can’t stand another surgery! And they obviously aren’t solving the cause anyway. It’s Weird, I’m 32 and never had this problem before, now it’s been plagueing me for a few months.

    • The air could have something to do with it, or maybe something lacking in your diet. Did you recently move there? I’m not an expert. I just know moving from place to place it’s easy to cut something you used to eat out of your diet. Do you eat fatty fish? Omega 3s are said to help.

  44. Just wanted to chime in and thank you for this post. I got a stye in late October 2018 that later turned into a chalazion. I had read at first that chalazions typically go away without treatment, so I didn’t do anything after it had turned from stye to chalazion. But it didn’t go away, and it got a bit bigger. So in mid-December I really started hardcore searching for an answer. I think it is pretty much gone now. I think it might still be there slightly, but no one can tell just from looking.

    Here’s what I did based on this post: I began taking a sulfur crystal supplement pretty much daily. I got flax seed capsules and took those regularly (they said one per meal, which is what I did faithfully when it was at it’s worst). At night I used saltwater on my eyelid with a Qtip and warm washcloths–often the routine was 45+ minutes, alternating the salt water and the warm wet cloth. I put on castor oil on my eyelid afterward, especially if it had popped it all that night (because I believe in moist healing). At the beginning I also used baby shampoo in the morning to cleanse the lid. I definitely lost some eyelashes in the process overall, but at I figured the castor oil might also help with eyelash growth. Frankly, this was a huge time investment for me, but I wanted to try to take care of it without going to the doctor.

    It was also a very gradual process, and I will continue to take flaxseed and sulfur, though I don’t worry if I miss a day.

    Also, for anyone interested, I typically wore concealer and some eye makeup (except liner) during the healing process, unless it was a day when it was more of an open sore (unusual because that tended to only be at night).

  45. Hello! Currently have my soon to be 3 year old with a stubborn chalazion on his right lower lid. After 2 months we do see some progress and it has gone down in size but his skin is still very red/purplish. Wondering if the skin healing process typically takes a long time. I still feel it is somewhat fluid filled but the color of the skin is what makes it stand out even more.

    • Hi Priscilla,

      It definitely takes some time and the redness is probably part of the chalazion changing as well as maybe some irritation from being touched. It does go away eventually — for us it felt very gradual though. Be consistent with your cleaning regimen and whatever else you find has worked well for your son. Glad to hear there’s progress. 🙂

  46. When I suffered from a chalazion many months ago, and was finally healed, I made a promise that I would return to this post and share what worked for me. I can attest that this process completely healed the chalazion within a week:

    1. BABY SHAMPOO — Wash your eyes every morning, afternoon, and especially each evening with baby shampoo. The blocked ducts will begin to open and drain while you sleep. You may wake up with significant mucus drainage around your eye. This is a good thing.

    2. EYEBRIGHT STEAM — Purchase ground powder of the Eyebright Herb. Boil water in a pot. Take the pot off the stove and place several teaspoons of the ground herb (liberal amounts) into the pot of boiled water. Allow the water to steep for several minutes covered within the pot. After steeping, remove the lid and place you face over the steaming pot. Cover your head with a large towel to trap the steam. Hold your face over the pot for approximately 15 minutes, or as long as you can stand the heat. You may notice increased drainage and tearing from your eyes. Repeat this process every night AFTER the baby shampoo eye wash.

    God Bless!

  47. Hi Nikki,
    great post. I have two Chalazion stuck in my eye for the past 4 month. I started the treatment you proposed. However, I noticed that the Chalazion have doubled in size since I started using Epsom Salt for 60 seconds in my eyes. Is that normal?

    • We noticed a lot more redness which made it look bigger once we started using sea salt but it went down much more than it ever had soon after. Hope you have some luck!

  48. Hi Nikki,

    Your suggestions here and those of your readers have helped me a lot. I have a question. Does the baby shampoo still help if it’s a little hard rock totally concealed inside the lid, no white head?

    I am on month 4 of the most stubborn chalazion I’ve ever had. I got it down to the point where it was so imperceptible only I could feel a slight swelling, and now it’s bigger again: tiny rock.

    Homeopathy was huge in getting it to shrink. I have been massaging every day with castor oil for all four months. I gave up on the heat because it was drying out my eyelids but I think I have to start again.

    Do you think the baby shampoo is useful in this stage?

    • Hi Kate,

      I’m relieved to hear some solutions have been helpful! I’m no expert and I can only pull from our experience, but baby shampoo is something we still do as a preventative measure to this day. I’m not sure how effective it is in your situation, but I can tell you the opthalmologist suggested to keep with it consistently and we did, no matter the appearance of our son’s chalazion. Take that advice as you will. Keeping the lids clean is super important though, so I’d stick with it personally. I really hope it goes back down. Sounds like it should be on its way out soon. <3

      • Nikki, I appreciate your kindness. Thank you. Yes, I clean my lids daily now — my longtime optometrist bugged me about it but I didn’t have any of these things for almost a decade so I didn’t bother. Now I rotate between the OcuSoft lid scrub, diluted baby shampoo, and Cliradex (cut in half to save $ and I put the other half in the fridge in a Ziploc). I figure each method probably cleans in a different way.

        I had one in each eye this winter. The other eye, for two weeks, I looked like a monster, and Acupuncture made them both explode. Needles in my fingers and my ears and my toes – nowhere near the face. It was the most dramatic acupuncture experience I’d ever had (I did all day hot compresses for the first 12 days and nothing.) With this one, Acupuncture would immediately help with the redness and the swelling, but the stye never drained and I wound up with the chalazion.

        The other thing I’ve put on my lid that seems to help is a magical Chinese herbal solution called Yin Care (avail. on Amazon). It addresses issues of heat and damp in Chinese medicine, which is what styes / chalazion are. That seemed to get this down to the tiny place and I stopped, but I’ve started again.

        Thanks again. Your page is such a generous resource.

      • Hi Nikki, I’ve got one again after 2 1/2 years — a very good run! And I’m so glad I bookmarked your post. There is so much information here. And also so much kindness. You have gathered so much help and so much support and encouragement for people. I am grateful. I’d forgotten about the salt water trick, and I saw someone with the hard boiled egg suggestion – genius! Fingers crossed that I move this one out quickly. Thanks for everything

        • Oh no! I’m sorry to hear it. Thank you for coming back and for your uplifting words. I hope very much that something helps speed it along so you can be done with it soon.

  49. (And when I say both above — there were actually two in one eyelid!! The second one eventually became a blood blister after the acupuncture-induced drain left a tiny lump behind. I had never experienced the blood blister and it scared the hell out of me. It was not until I found your blog that I realized it was normal!)

    • Oh my gosh. Yes they’re definitely scary to see at first!! Thank you so much for your suggestions. I had never heard of Yin Care before and will keep it in mind! Thanks also for your kind words about my site. It means a lot to know this post might help someone!

  50. Hi Nikki,

    Your page is such a great resource for all suffering from chalazions.
    My daughter(3 year old) have chalazion in her lower right eye. Till these days i have been doing only warm compresses(cooked rice wrapped in cotton cloth) & applying antibiotic ointment. Her chalazion has become very soft to touch now. I’m planning to use salt water remedy which u suggested. I have one doubt,after slightly applying epsom salt mixture to affected area. Shall I leave it to dry/should i do warm compress with plain water to clean epsom salt mixture which i applied.(Bcos i need to apply ointment after warm compresses).Please do clarify.

    Awaiting your reply

    • Thank you! I’m not a medical professional. My personal opinion though is that I would try the salt mixture — no need to wait for it to dry, really, maybe gently swipe it clean with a fresh cloth — and then do your compress as usual, dry then apply ointment. Antibiotic ointment never worked for us unfortunately, but that’s not to say it won’t for your daughter. I hope something offered here helps.

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