[2] The first sign of a stye is a small, yellowish spot at the center of the bump that develops as pus and expands in the area.

However, the most frequent complication of styes is progression to a chalazion that causes cosmetic deformity, corneal irritation, and often requires surgical removal.

Proper hand washing can reduce the risks of developing not only styes, but also many other types of infections.

Contaminated eye makeup should be discarded and sharing of washcloths or face towels should be curtailed, to avoid spreading the infection between individuals.

[18] People with styes should avoid eye makeup (e.g., eyeliner), lotions, and wearing contact lenses, since these can aggravate and spread the infection (sometimes to the cornea).

[21] Chloramphenicol is used successfully in many parts of the world, but contains a black box warning in the United States due to concerns about aplastic anemia, which on rare occasions can be fatal.

Incision and drainage is performed if resolution does not begin in the next 48 hours after warm compresses are started.

Medical professionals will sometimes lance a particularly persistent or irritating stye with a needle to accelerate its draining.

The procedure consists of making a small incision on the inner or outer surface of the eyelid, depending if the stye is pointing externally or not.

After the incision is made, the pus is drained out of the gland, and very small sutures are used to close the lesion.

A 2017 Cochrane review found low-certainty and low-quality evidence that acupuncture helps in hordeolum compared with antibiotics or warm compresses.

[23] as well as that acupuncture plus conventional treatment may yield improvement, though they could not rule out placebo or observer effect, since the studies reviewed either had no positive control, were not blinded, or both.

The prognosis is better if one does not attempt to squeeze or puncture the stye, as infection may spread to adjacent tissues.

[27] The synonymous late Latin expression is hordeolum, a modulation of the word hordeolus, which is related to hordeum ("barley"), after its resemblance to a barleycorn.