Blepharitis treatment. Blepharitis is a chronic condition that is thankfully, not sight threatening. However, it can be difficult to treat and can go on for years. 

Have you been diagnosed with blepharitis? The advice you have been given will invariably be based on treatment by hygiene. It is important to remember that this will be a medium to long term process. You will need to be patient for results to realised. 

Firstly you may want to know what exactly blepharitis is. It is considered a chronic condition, this means it is long term. You can have it in episodes which means there may be time when you have no symptoms and other times when it may be really bad, or it may effect you all the time. Sometimes people can have blepharitis and it doesn't effect them at all. 

It is an inflammation of the eye lids. The 'itis' bit means inflammation derived from Greek and the 'Blephar' part means eyelids derived from Greek.

What symptoms are associated with blepharitis?

Symptoms can include stinging, itching, foreign-body sensation or burning, excessive tearing, dry eye, photophobia and blurred vision.

What causes blepharitis?

The way our skins vary from person to person is also related to our eyelids. Some people have drier skin than other. Some have more oily skin. Our skins can change with the influence of hormones circulating around the body, causing it to become more or less drier or more oily. 

Hormonal changes can occur in adolescence, with pregnancy, menopause, with certain conditions like hypothyroidism and with age. These changes in hormone levels effect glands in our skin that produce the oily secretions on the surface.

A weakened immune system can influence blepharitis and you may find that during periods when your immune system is weakened, you may have a flare-up.

With time our skins change and so the interactions between natural skin flora and fauna changes. This can cause problems in some.

For some it may just be your genetics and so you may have had it since childhood.

How does this inflammation come about?

This can be linked to a number of factors. The skin contains pores through which an oil substance called sebum is secreted on to the skin surface. This sebum can attract bacteria which cause inflammation.

The skin may be dry instead of oily and this can make the cells on the eyelid more flacky, like dandruff. These skin cells can attract bacteria which then cause inflammation

You skin is host to a number of different microbes and tiny creatures called demodex. These little creature live in the hair follicles. Ordinarily they don't cause problems but if there number grow too much or if you are more sensitive to there presence , these can cause the inflammation, 

Effective blepharitis treatment

There are a number of ways to treat blepharitis. As with all treatments, some work better for some and not for others. It is important to target the underlying problem. So, for example if you have Demodex blepharitis you would want to use a treatment that is effective against Demodex. 

For treatment to be effective , you will also need to be consistent in your routine. Maintaining daily hygiene is very important, especially if you have just started the treatment. Once you have bought the condition under control, it is at that point when you may be able to reduce the frequency of the cleaning.

Since blepharitis is so closely linked to dry eye, it is common for there to be an overlap in the treatment. For example, you will also benefit from heat & massage as this opens the glands that have become narrowed by the blepharitis. It also help to clear the inflammatory cells that will be trapped in the ducts. You will benefit from the use of dry eye supplements as these act as anti-inflammatory which is beneficial against this condition. Following our 5 steps to tackle dry eyes will be useful for your blepharitis treatment regime.