A Stye in My Eye

I feel like a cyclops... a one-eyed giant (in Greek mythology). I look like I lost a battle. I have a stye. In case you've never had one, a stye is basically a pimple on your eyelid caused by staph. S-t-a-p-h! Who knew that we all have staph living on our eyelids all the time? Well this nasty little pimple is now huge and purplish - red and is causing my cheek to swell. Yes, it hurts.

How do you cure a stye? A friend told me that her father was a doctor and he always told her to rub her 14 k gold ring across it. She said she did and the styes always went away. I tried it. It's still there. Someone else, who is a physician, told me to heat a sterling silver knife and hold it on the stye. (What is it with metals??) I tried it. It's still there. I read somewhere to put triple antibiotic ointment on it. I tried it. It's still there; and not only that, it seems larger than life!

I may not know how to get rid of it but I found out what caused it! I went to the door today when someone from our insurance company stopped by. I apologized for looking the way I did and explained that I had a stye. She laughed and said, "Oh, you know the old wive's tale... you must've watched a dog pee." Well, yes I have and it must have been the beagle peeing on my oriental rug that caused this horrible affliction in my eye!!

** A side note....I went to the doctor today. It is a stye and a staph infection abcess! So, that's why it hurts!! Bottom line: Don't ignore a stye (or watch a dog pee)!!

*** Update....I went to my opthamologist today and I have a chalazion. A chalazion is a bump in the eyelid caused by a blockage of a tiny oil gland. My doctor said I will have to work hard to avoid surgery. I have to use a Q-tip a rub an ointment on the eyelid at night, after a warm compress. In the morning, I have to use a scrub on the eyelid. She told me it could take as long as three months or so to go away and that if it hasn't in three months, I will need surgery. Why do I NOT want surgery? Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmX2w6EOZ0M