Introduction
The eyelid, as the skin surrounding the eye, serves both to protect the eye with eyelashes and to moisturize the eye with glands located there. Pain in the eyelid is often due to inflammation. On the one hand, the sebaceous glands can be affected if they become clogged, but bacterial infections of the eyelid can also be the cause.
Causes
The most common causes of eyelid pain are listed below:
- Inflammation of the eyelids – a so-called blepharitis
- Barleycorn
- Hailstones
- Inflammation of the lacrimal gland
Upper eyelid pain can occur for a variety of reasons. A common cause is inflammation of the eyelids, called blepharitis. Here, the classic signs of inflammation are redness, swelling, overheating and pain.
A disturbed sebum flow due to constipation leads to a swelling of the sebaceous glands, which can eventually develop into a bacterial infection. The swelling can become relatively large and lead to a foreign body sensation in the eye. Blepharitis usually occurs over a large area of the entire eyelid and can also lead to a scale-like change on the outer edge with pain in the corners of the eye.
It is then called Blepharitis squamosa. The inflammation can also spread to deeper layers of skin, so that it can also spread to the inside of the eye in severe cases. However, with good hygiene and an eye ointment containing antibiotics, Blepharitis can be treated very well.
If it is a pure blockage of a sebaceous gland without the involvement of bacteria, it is called a hailstone. The barleycorn is also called hordeolum. It is an acute inflammation of an eyelid gland, often caused by staphylococci and streptococci.
Typical for this inflammation is a strong reddish swelling of the eyelid. Both the inner and outer glands can be affected. The inner eyelid glands are the Meibom glands.
In addition there is an unpleasant itching. Both occur in the initial stage of the forming barley grain. Within the next 24 hours a characteristic pus pimple develops.
This pus pimple is the size of a pinhead and can be recognized very well by its whitish cap. The barleycorn breaks open within four to six days and the swelling and redness are clearly reduced. The symptoms are usually limited to the affected eye, but there are known cases where a general feeling of illness with fever and malaise can occur.
This particularly affects immunocompromised people. The hailstone is also called chalazion in medical terminology. Similar to a barleycorn, it causes a secretion congestion in the sebaceous glands, but in most cases the inflammation is not caused by bacteria.
Hailstones can occur in the meibomian and zeis glands. Characteristically, a solid node forms, from which a chronic inflammation can eventually develop. A hailstone usually does not hurt too much, but it also causes redness and swelling.
The nodules that have formed recede on their own, but this can often take several weeks. Hailstones are harmless, but rarely cause conjunctivitis. Since a hailstone is sometimes difficult to distinguish from a barley grain, the diagnosis can also be made by a doctor, who will then also decide on the treatment.
The inflammation of the lacrimal gland is also a cause of pain in the eyelid. The pain is usually one-sided on the outer edge of the upper eyelid. Pain occurs especially when pressure is applied. The inflammation of the lacrimal gland is usually caused by viral infections such as mumps and whistling glandular fever.
