Bump after steroid shot for chalazion - how can I treat this? (Photo)

Question

I had a chalazion appear December 13th. I went to an eye doctor and she had me do a round of antibiotics and gave me two steroid injections (they were three weeks apart). She wanted to perform surgery on it but I was hesitant and wanted to get another opinion. I went to an oculoplastic surgeon, he flipped my eye inside out and determined the chalazion was too small and didn’t want to operate on it, however he gave me the number of an eyelid specialist where I live. I went today (march 23) and the third doctor basically said the same thing, the chalazion is gone, but my bump is not! It’s still there and he believes it could be scarring from the two shots from the first doctor. Is there anything I can do to get this bump to go away? It’s really affecting me and my self esteem. I have hooded eyes as it so it can be hidden sometimes, but most of the time it’s not. Any advice is truly appreciated.

Kenneth D. Steinsapir, MD · Answer

With all due respect, you still have a chalazion. Normally I tell people who see me for this that one or two injections of Kenalog will resolve these but if not I will perform surgery. In 30 years, I have not had to perform a chalazion surgery. They are exquisitely sensitive to steroid. The rub is that you need to actually put the steroid in the chalazion, not near it, not around it but actually in it. My approach is to numb the eyelid first. I use a topical numbing cream followed by an injection of local anesthetic. Once I have done this, putting enough steroid into the chalazia is a straight forward matter. That is not much of a secret I know but many of my colleagues don't do that. Many of them simply want to do surgery because sadly the get paid more money by health insurance for the surgery than they do for the steroid injection. I don't take insurance. So that does not motivate me. I suspect that you have not had sufficient steroid injected into the lesion and that is why it is still there.

Bump after steroid shot for chalazion - how can I treat this? (Photo)

Answers (1)

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