Stye or not, and associated surgical procedure on children

[feri1979]

Hi,
My 3 yo has somekind of stye/zit for more than 2 months now. It is located on the lower eyelid, around 2-3 mm from the margin, on the exterior side. When swolen, it looks like a small zit (2-3 mm wide). The problem is that is doesn't seem to heal completely... After being swollen/red for 1-2 days, the top gets yellow, then it retreats and dries to the point that only a small circular scar is visible. Unfortunately, after 1-2 weeks its starts all over.
We are not aware of any skin (or other health) issue, and this is the only stye/zit.
I'm adding 2 links with pictures with the zip swollen (it does't get worse than that)
https://postimg.cc/hz5CtKpf
https://postimg.cc/HjrZP7k5
The ophthalmologist that saw her last month mentioned something about "some kind of stye", "foliculitis", and, in order to avoid useless trauma to the child, asked us to come back a few months later if id doesn't get fixed by itself. Since then there is no change, it's recurring.
So we would be grateful for a second opinion and maybe some info on the associated surgical procedure and how it can be performed on small children.
Thanks

[feri1979]

If anyone would benefit from this, I can confirm that after getting a prescription for Tobradex (topical)  and using it for 10 days (and also some cleansing, as much the kid let us do it), it's been 2 months now and the swelling did not reoccur. A small scar is still visible. Thank you for the advice!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Thanks for the follow up

[feri1979]

So we should use the topical treatment even after the pus phase, when the swelling recesses and only a minor scar is visible. Been there many times already, yet it always started all over again after 1-2 weeks.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

You will need to discuss that with your pediatrician or better yet a pediatric ophthalmologist.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

If this has happened again and again (your posting didn't mention use of antibiotics topical and oral. Then you should probably see a pediatric ophthalmologist, May need a procedure. One that that can cause a recurrent infection that won't heal is a buried foreign body.

[feri1979]

Did not use any medicines yet (as the ophthalm. said not to), tried some warm compresses for a few days when the infection started the first time, child did not tollerate them well, yet the infection seemed to clear anyway.  By "been there many times already" I was trying to say we went many times through the stage when all seemed well, no swelling, no redness, and we were expecting some minor dry scar/crust to fall off, and instead swelling and redness started again. I will most likely ask for a prescription topical antibiotic.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Good luck

[feri1979]

Thank you. Would you recommend/set a specific time to allow it to heal by itself and/or by using topical treatment?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Doctors get in trouble telling people what will happen; usually we say what usually happens.  With heat and topical antibiotic ointment (like erythromycin or polymixin) and warm compresses most will heal in 2-3 weeks. Most likely for a long time you will feel some scar tissue under the skin but if the redness and pus drainage is gone no problem.  Often we use Ocusoft Lid wipes to cleanse oil from the lids. The photo doesn't seem to show much oil,  Ocusoft wipes are over the counter.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Yes I agree,  that lesion is too small to warrant surgery which either has to be done by immobilizing the child with restraints or general anesthesia.  You should be using topical warm compresses or the reheatable eye pads that are even better and a topical antibiotic drop and ointment.