After eating hot pot for a week, the guy got a stye. Experts remind us: Winter tonic should be moderate

A 25-year-old man ate spicy hotpot for a week, but he developed a stye, commonly known as a "pinhole". On December 25, Dr. Lu Xiulan, a specialist in eyelid and orbital diseases/eye plastic surgery at the Aier Eye Hospital affiliated to Wuhan University, said that meibomian adenitis has been more common recently, and weather changes and the rush to eat tonic food are important causes. The department treats many such patients every winter.

Xiaowen (pseudonym), 25 years old, from Xiangyang, is afraid of cold in winter. Once he enters the room, he will stay in the heated room and will not come out. He also does not drink much water. When the temperature dropped a while ago, Xiaowen found that his right eye was red and swollen after eating hot pot for a week, and there was a stinging sensation like a needle piercing his eye, so he came to the eyelid and orbital disease/eye plastic surgery department of the Aier Eye Hospital affiliated to Wuhan University for treatment. After examination, Dr. Lu Xiulan diagnosed him with stye. After asking about his condition, she learned that he had eaten a lot of spicy hot pot recently and liked to stay in the heated room. Lu Xiulan cut open the lesion to drain the pus and properly cleaned the granulation tissue.

Lu Xiulan introduced that every winter, many patients with styes come to see a doctor, and they all eat a lot of fish and meat or often eat hot pot. Stye is commonly known as stye or eye sore, also known as meibomian glanditis. Meibomian glands are glands on the eyelids. When the meibomian glands are blocked, they will cause inflammation and then meibomian glanditis due to some reasons. High temperature, dry air, excessive tonic, etc. can cause overheating in the body, which can easily cause blockage of the meibomian glands and cause inflammation. She said that in winter, the oil in the meibomian glands is solidified and difficult to discharge. The oil that cannot be discharged will fester and breed bacteria.

"If you encounter this situation, you must not squeeze it with your hands. This is a very dangerous behavior. Squeezing can easily cause the spread of local infection and worsen the condition. In addition, the facial veins do not have valves and cannot prevent blood from flowing back. Therefore, if you squeeze the stye, it is easy to squeeze pus containing a large amount of bacteria into the blood and flow into the skull, causing meningitis, sepsis, etc., and in severe cases it may be life-threatening." Lu Xiulan said.

Lu Xiulan reminded that although tarsal adenitis is common, it should not be ignored. Severe tarsal adenitis may deteriorate into orbital cellulitis or meningitis. Some people with styes can relieve eye symptoms by drinking some heat-reducing tea or applying hot compresses, but if the condition is serious, they should still go to the hospital in time to avoid endangering their health.