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Sty (Stye) »

What is a sty?

A sty (sometimes spelled stye) is a tender, painful red bump located at the base of an eyelash or under or inside the eyelid. A sty results from a localized infection of the glands or a hair follicle of the eyelid. The medical term for a sty is hordeolum (plural, hordeola).

The term external hordeolum refers to a sty that develops at the base of an eyelash (the hair follicle), whereas the term internal hordeolum refers to a sty that develops in a meibomian gland, a gland located on the underside of the eyelid that secretes an oily substance onto the eyeball.

A sty is sometimes confused with a chalazion (see below), which is a cyst or a specific type of scarring due to chronic inflammation arising in the meibomian glands of the eyelid. A chalazion may develop when the infection of a sty persists over time, resulting in scarring around the meibomian gland. In contrast to a sty, a chalazion is usually painless. ...

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