Chalazion

I just had a minor surgery on my eyelid today to remove chalazion or the so-called ‘eye needle’ in hokkien dialect.

Epic irritation followed after the surgery and it caused the following:

1. Tears keep flowing out from my eye automatically and it won’t stop (it’s still flowing at this point of time). No sadness is required to stimulate the tears. Cool.

2. One-eyed drive back home.  Felt a sense of achievement and relieved once I reached home as it wasn’t an easy task due to the inability to judge distance well.

3. Whole afternoon-evening gone on bed. There was nothing much I can do as I was terribly uncomfortable and had to resort to closing both my eyes to ease the irritation.

4. Mimicked actions of a blind man. Had to do this as I wasn’t comfortable with both my eyes opened or one eye closed.

5. Swelling. As portrayed in the photo.

So what is Chalazion?

It is the enlargement of the oil gland deep down in the eyelid due to obstruction of the gland’s opening. This gland produces oil that flows out of the gland into tears and obstruction occurs when the oil produced is too thick to flow out of the gland. It causes your eyelid to swell, mild pain and irritation. However these symptoms only last for 1 to 2 days, leaving a painless swelling in the eyelid that grows gradually over weeks.

Care and treatment

Should chalazion developed in your eyelid, warm compresses may be helpful. Hold a warm wet towel on the eyelid for 5 to 10 minutes, 4 times a day, to reduce the swelling and promote drainage of the gland. Lightly massage on the eyelid several times a day also promotes drainage. You should not ‘pop’ or scratch the chalazion.

Chalazion normally disappears without treatment within 2 to 8 weeks. If it lasts longer then more than this period, it may need to be surgically removed just like mine’s.

Chalazion is recurring in nature and it is advisable that one must drink plenty of water, maintain a healthy diet such as frequent intake of vegetables and fruits and apply warm compresses to eyelids prior to sleep to reduce the chance of getting chalazion in the future.

Thoughts to contemplate: Imagine if we lose one side of our eyesight or worst off, a complete loss of eyesight, our life would be superbly inconvenient and many things couldn’t be done. Thus our eyes are precious gift from God that we need to appreciate and care for. There are people who are unable to see, who are unable to lead a good life. Now we know that we are very fortunate so do show some love the next time when you see someone who is blind!