If you’ve got a stye (an infected gland at the base of an eyelash or under the eyelid) or a chalazion (a clogged gland on the eyelid), keeping a warm, damp compress on the closed eye helps it heal. Heat and moisture relieve the pain, swelling and inflammation—and, in the case of a chalazion, loosen the hardened oil causing the clogged gland.
For a compress to be effective therapy for either, it needs to stay warm—as warm as you can comfortably tolerate, in fact—for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. The problem is that most compresses, such as a washcloth run under hot water or dampened and microwaved for a few seconds, start cooling off within a minute or so of applying them.
Solution: Instead of grabbing a cloth from your linen closet, grab something from your kitchen—a baked potato!
A baked potato makes a very good warm/hot compress because it retains heat better…it’s naturally moist (you’ll be using the inside)…and it’s a convenient size.
What to do: Cut in half a potato that you’ve just baked (either in a conventional oven or a microwave) that is as hot as you can comfortably tolerate, and wrap it in a thin cloth or paper towel. Apply the cut part to the closed eyelid of the afflicted eye for 10 to 15 minutes two to four times a day. You can reuse the potato multiple times. Just warm it up in the microwave for a few seconds to the desired temperature. (Of course, if you have any doubt as to what’s affecting your eye or if your condition lingers, see a doctor.)
Bonus: Potatoes have mild astringent and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as an enzyme that “digests” the material causing the clog, that pass through the thin cloth or paper-towel covering and further help styes and chalazia heal faster.
