How to Pick Stye Medication

Medication may be necessary to treat your stye if it does not heal on its own with 3 weeks. Prescription medications and ointments may help relieve the symptoms associated with styes, help them heal completely and prevent them from coming back.

Instructions

• 1

  Make an appointment with an ophthalmologist for professional treatment of your stye if it does not disappear within a few weeks despite home treatment. The doctor will be able to recommend a variety of medications to pick from that have been proven to heal persistent styes.

• 2

  Ask your doctor about oral antibiotics available to treat styes. Doxycycline is commonly prescribed for treatment of styes, as well as infections such as rosacea, syphilis and sinusitis. Common side effects of doxycycline and similar medications are damage to the linings of the stomach and esophagus and increased sensitivity to the sun.

• 3

  Talk to your doctor about topical antibiotic ointments that are sometimes used to treat styes. These ointments require a prescription and may contain steroids. They are only used for external styes and are not generally prescribed unless the stye is extremely persistent despite other forms of treatment.

• 4

  Pick over-the-counter eye drops to treat styes if they do not go away in a normal time frame or if you experience multiple styes as the same time. These potassium chloride and tetrahydrozoline hydrochloride eye drops help keep styes moisturized and may also reduce the appearance of redness. Eye drops can be applied up to 4 times a day and may generally help reduce the pain associated with overly dry eyes.

• 5

  Use antiobiotic ointments prescribed by your doctor on your cheeks to treat rosacea that sometimes accompanies styes. Rosacea is a skin condition that causes redness and flushing of the skin on the face. The same medication prescribed to treat your styes can sometimes be used to treat rosacea, so it is a good idea to pick one in consultation with your doctor for treatment of both conditions.

• 6

  Choose alternative remedies if other forms of medication are not effective in curing your styes. The alpine pasqueflower and delphinium plant are believed to be helpful homeopathic approaches for treating styes. Always tell your doctor before you begin a new medicinal approach so that he may adjust his treatment plan accordingly.