Blepharitis
What is blepharitis?
Blepharitis is a common condition that results when your eyelids become inflamed. This can be due to bacteria (I.e. staph) on the eyelids, skin diseases that cause inflammation of the facial oil glands (I.e. rosacea), and/or dysfunction of the eyelid oil glands (I.e. MGD). Some symptoms of blepharitis are:
Chronic eyelid redness and swelling
Burning or foreign body sensation
Crusting of the eyelids, typically in the morning
Watery eyes or tearing
Importantly, blepharitis can be a chronic condition that leads to other eye issues such as styes/hordeolum, chalazion, dry eye syndrome, corneal ulcers, and more.
What treatments are available?
Unfortunately, like dry eye syndrome, there is no cure. However, there are several treatments that can be used to help alleviate symptoms of blepharitis:
Warm compresses - once or twice a day for 5 minutes
Eyelid massage
Scrub your eyelids and eyelashes with dilute baby shampoo to remove crust and flakes
Topical antibiotic ointment to eyelid margin at nighttime. Your doctor may also ask you to temporarily use a topical steroid as well if symptoms are significant.
0.01% pure hypochlorous acid spray (Avenova) or tea tree oil (Cliradex)
Oral antibiotics (I.e. doxycycline) in severe or recalcitrant cases