My eyelid throws me another curveball
April 3, 2008 by Scott
A couple of weeks ago I saw a new doctor about my chalazion, a hard, non-painful lump that returns over and over again in the same spot in my left upper eyelid. Not on the edge, like a stye, but in the upper portion of the lid. It’s basically a blocked tear duct, probably. I’ve had it excised a number of times and it has always come back in the same place. I’ve tried hot compresses and really burn-your-skin hot compresses and massage, with seemingly no positive effect. I’ve had it get infected twice; the infection spreads over the entire eyelid when that happens, and it’s really ghastly. The first time I got infected, by the time it cleared up (a couple days), the lump was gone too. The second infection, this last October, was much more resistant to the antibiotics. It lasted forever, and the chalazion was still there after.
So anyway, the lump was getting larger again, and I decided to try a new doctor, and see if they had any different approaches. He seemed like a reasonable guy and we decided to go for a somewhat more aggressive surgery on the lid than my previous incisions: rather than just draining it and scooping out what thicker bits remained inside the “capsule” (the scar-tissue lined tear duct, I think), he is going to cut out the capsule altogether. Great. That’s scheduled for later this month.
In the meantime, I’ve been superstitiously not messing with the lump. No massage, no compresses, leaving it all alone. Why? Because I’m deathly afraid it will become infected before the procedure. I’ve had no luck with massage and hot compresses before, so I’m trying the opposite.
I think the lump’s been growing relatively quickly over the last few weeks. Until last night. This morning I looked in the mirror and it seemed like it was almost gone. Just now I looked, and it was gone. I asked someone else to look at it too, to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. The lid is flat.
So, great? For the first time ever, it self-drained with no associated trauma like an infection. But I have $5 right here that says it will be back… I need to call the doctor and see what he thinks. Do I go through with the procedure? Is the procedure even a good idea when the lump isn’t present? No idea.
I wonder if that’s what I have. At first I thought it was a stye. My eye felt like there was something in it, it was grossly swollen and red and hurt. But now there’s a bump on the top of the lid. When I lift the lid I see the bump on the inside. I got antibiotics from my internist since my eye doc was away. I never considered a chalazion. I thought they didn’t hurt. This hurts and it’s affecting my vision. I can’t see, everythign is blurry. Yikes.
Yikes indeed :-( Just the bump is left now, the overall swelling is gone? That’s a good start, I think — when mine got infected, the eye doctor (my previous one) made me go through a round (or two) of antibiotics to get rid of the infection before he would excise it… well, realistically, when it was as swollen as it was, my lid couldn’t even be turned inside out to get at the problem.
Maybe (just guessing) the same kind of thing can hurt or not hurt depending on whether it’s pushing against a nerve? I know it’s common for eyelid bumps to distort vision. I had double vision in just the one eye for quite a while last time. (I’d close the good eye and still have double vision in the one.)
When you see your eye doctor, I bet it will get excised and you’ll be better shortly. Then you get to cross your fingers and hope it doesn’t come back. Good luck!
Thanks. I hope I can see eye doc today. I don’t do well with one eye. Do you know why this occurs?
I’ve heard it described as similar to acne, only in a different set of ducts. In my case I’ve chalked it up to being prone to dermatitis.