By 

W. B. Daitch (Silver Spring, MD United States) –

  

SECOND UPDATE, ONE YEAR LATER, 4 Dec 2011: Just checking back in to tell you that my advice below STILL WORKS! The cure for a stye is this: SIMPLY DON’T GIVE YOURSELF THE STYE IN THE FIRST PLACE! How? Well I was a life-long stye sufferer, but now I’ve had ZERO styes in the last year, because I’ve managed to easily follow the new habits I described below for you. PLEASE just try and I can almost guarantee you too will be cured of your styes! There is no purchase, no cost, no pain — just a bit of awareness, self control and some simple new habits. If I do nothing else useful to the greater public in this life (besides serving my country as a U.S. Navy submarine officer!), at least I can help more people discover the primary cause of styes and how to banish them forever. Sorry Ocusoft, but you’re really not necessary, although you’re a useful, refreshing supplement for additional lid cleansing every night. Good luck you all, and please post a comment to this review and let me know if my advice helps you!

UPDATE: 26 Nov 2010: OK, here’s what I’ve learned about my chronic styes on my lower right eye lid. I think I’ve pretty much solved the problem and I don’t even need to use these pads or anything else any more. After a marathon research session on the web, I found one entry where the person said styes are often caused by the staph BACTERIA from your nose. That is the culprit!!! So if you touch anywhere near your nostrils, and then near your eyelid — trouble will follow, GUARANTEED! The same is true, to a somewhat lesser extent, if you ever touch on or near your eyes with your fingers during the day, unless you just washed them — you know all about the germs (including staph) on your hands from light switches, door handles, keyboards, yadda yadda. So in the last year I have forced myself to do 3 simple things as a habit:

1. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER touch my eyes after my nostrils. PERIOD. Don’t touch, scratch or blow your nose and then a few seconds or minutes later touch anywhere around your eyes — BAD, BAD, BAD! Always wash/Purell my hands after touching my nostrils, and even quickly wash the area around my nose tip/nostrils after blowing, if I have a few extra seconds.

2. Avoid touching eyes (or face near eyes) throughout the day. Just don’t do it. Sometimes I will catch myself just as my hand is moving to my eye. If hands were just washed/Purelled, then OK. But you can actually train yourself to NOT TOUCH YOUR EYES OR THE AREA AROUND YOUR EYES — try to train yourself to not even touch your face. You probably heard that the typical person touches their face hundreds of times per day. So you just have to train yourself not to do it — it’s hard at first, but it’s doable. If you really have an itch, use the back of your sleeve, or a tissue, but DON’T USE YOUR FINGERS!!!

3. Also EXTREMELY HELPFUL: Every time I wash my hands after using the bathroom at the office, after drying my hands I then use the wet paper towel to cleanse my problem eye or both eyes. Feels good, refreshing and really keeps the lids clean all day, as they get wiped and cleansed at least a few times per day. Those bacteria that manage to evade steps one and two above, never get a chance to plant their stye gardens on my eyelid!

I’ve been doing this for a year now and have had no styes. I don’t even use the Ocusoft pads any more, unless I just want to give my lid a good cleansing, or if I feel like there could be trouble on the horizon, nip it in the bud. So if you’ve been tortured with chronic styes, don’t blame it on “bad genes” like I did (my mother says I have the same problem as my grandfather, who must’ve been susceptible, but also was likely an eye toucher!) — blame it instead on “operator error” — change your habits and you will prevail!!!

ORIGINAL REVIEW (May 2009): I can’t live without these pads. Started using them a year ago, desperate to find something to help prevent my chronic periodic styes. These really work. I use every day, morning and night. I cut each pad into 3 pieces and use one at a time — only takes a second to snip it, and the box lasts 3 times as long. You don’t need a full pad at a time. After applying, I rinse it off one lid and leave it on the other more troublesome lower lid. It doesn’t burn, feels fine, more of a clean feeling than a burn. Look for the “Extra Strength” version in the light blue box — it’s WAYYYYYYY better and not all foamy like the regular type in the dark blue box. You should find the cost to be the same — it is at my drug store. Verdict: LOVE ‘EM. In the last year I’ve only had one stye, instead of my monthly battles!

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

|

 Comments (2)