Sore Eyelid

The eyes are highly sensitive parts of your body. The eyelids provide protection to these delicate organs from dust, debris, germs, as well as injuries. When you have a sore eyelid, then it causes a lot of discomfort. A simple activity like blinking of the eyes becomes a painful affair. If soreness is felt in both eyelids, then it will disrupt normal vision and affect your daily life.

Causes and Symptoms

Some causes of sore eyelid are serious and others are not. A few commonly found causes and their accompanying symptoms are described below:

Allergies: Allergies mostly causes soreness and irritation on the upper eyelids. Sometimes, women get it after use of new cosmetics. In that case, the chemicals that are present in the cosmetic trigger the allergic reaction. Besides, environmental allergens like dust and pollen can also be responsible for it. Here, other allergy symptoms like skin irritation and rashes are also found.

Eye Stye: This is a pus-filled, pimple-like lump that forms at the base of the eyelash due to a bacterial infection. This kind of bump on eyelid often causes sore lower eyelid.

Herpes Virus Infection: Both herpes simplex virus that causes cold sores as well herpes zoster that causes shingles can spread the infection to the eyes. This infection occurs when you rub your eyes after touching the herpes blister with your hands. As a result, a cluster of small blisters erupt that causes a swollen sore eyelid.

Periorbital Cellulitis: This is another eyelid infection where the soft tissues in and around the eyes are attacked by bacteria. Initially, it is usually identified with sore under eyelid. Later on, the infected eyelid turns red and tender to touch. In serious cases, swelling may occur in the entire face.

Blepharitis: In this condition, the tiny glands present in the eyelids fail to provide proper lubrication to the eyes. It is mostly triggered by a bacterial attack on the glands but allergic reactions may also lead to this problem. Here, a sore eyelid is accompanied by reddening and itchiness of the eyelid.

Chalazion: This eyelid cyst that forms due to blockage of the oil glands present in eyelid. The intensity of soreness and swelling largely depends on the size of the cyst. As it grows bigger, the pain becomes worse.

Treatment

When eyelid soreness is mild, you can take some home treatments to reduce it. The first thing that need to be done is to keep the eyelids clean. Splash water on your eyes several times to clean up debris discharged due to some infection. Warm compression have a soothing effect on eyelid pain. Take a clean washcloth, dip it in warm water and place it on the eyelid for 5-10 minutes. You can repeat it a number of times throughout the day. Swelling in the eyelids can be controlled with the help of cold compression.

If these treatments do not make any difference to the pain, then you must visit a doctor for proper sore eyes treatment. They ascertain the cause first and treat it accordingly. Herpes eye infection and periorbital cellulitis are serious eye problems and should be treated under the supervision of eye doctor only. Antihistamines tablets as well as eye drops are used for sore eyelid cure caused by allergies. Bacterial infections like eye stye is treated with antibiotics that are available in the form of eye drops and ointments. Doctors often recommend cold compression and gentle eyelid massage with the tips of finger for reducing the size of chalazion.

When you have a sore eyelid, you will feel like rubbing your eyes again and again but you have to control that urge. Women should not apply any cosmetic products on a swollen upper eyelid. Most importantly, you should not neglect or delay the treatment of this eye problem as some of the sore eyes causes are so serious that can damage the eyes.