---
title: "Blepharitis: symptoms, causes & treatment | Sanara Health"
description: "Blepharitis is inflammation of the eyelid margins — crusty, red, itchy lids, often worse on waking."
url: "https://www.sanarahealth.co.uk/conditions/blepharitis/"
source: "Sanara Health"
licence: "Quote with attribution and a link to the url above."
---
# Blepharitis: symptoms, causes & treatment

Blepharitis is inflammation of the eyelid margins — crusty, red, itchy lids, often worse on waking. It’s chronic but controllable with a simple daily routine, and it’s the usual culprit behind styes and chalazia.

Editorial information by **Kaiser Khan**. Not clinically reviewed.

## Symptoms

- Red, swollen or itchy eyelid edges
- Crusting or flakes at the lash roots, worst in the morning
- Gritty or burning eyes
- Recurrent styes or eyelid cysts
- Lashes sticking together

## Why it happens

A shifted balance of skin bacteria and blocked oil glands along the lid margin, sometimes linked with skin conditions like rosacea or seborrhoeic dermatitis. It commonly occurs alongside dry eye.

## Treatment

The mainstay is daily lid care: warmth, massage and lid cleaning. Flares or stubborn cases may need short prescription courses; a persistent chalazion sometimes needs a minor procedure — both reasons for specialist review.

## Self-care that helps

Warm compress for 10 minutes daily, gentle massage towards the lashes, then clean the lid margins with dedicated wipes or cleanser. Maintain a few times weekly once settled — stopping the routine is the usual cause of relapse.

## When to get help

Increasing pain or swelling, vision changes, a stye that doesn’t settle in a week or two, or a lump that persists for weeks — get assessed.

[See our blepharitis support →](https://www.sanarahealth.co.uk/supplements/?category=eye-health)

Go deeper

## Related guides

[Blepharitis: the eyelid condition behind so many irritated eyes — Consultant-reviewed guide to blepharitis — symptoms, the daily routine that controls it, and how it links to styes, chalazia and dry eye.](https://www.sanarahealth.co.uk/guides/blepharitis-treatment-guide/)

[Dry eye: why it happens and what genuinely helps — A consultant ophthalmic surgeon's guide to dry eye disease — from screen habits and MGD to drops, warm compresses and when to seek help.](https://www.sanarahealth.co.uk/guides/dry-eye-complete-guide/)

Available without prescription

## Products that can help

[Eye health — Macular carotenoids](https://www.sanarahealth.co.uk/supplements/macular-carotenoid-complex/)

[Eye health — AREDS2 eye supplements](https://www.sanarahealth.co.uk/supplements/areds2-eye-formula/)

[Eye health — Preservative-free dry eye drops](https://www.sanarahealth.co.uk/supplements/preservative-free-dry-eye-drops/)