RATIONAL MINDS pleaseAlso - *trigger warning* - lumps and bumps.
I've got myself into a right tizz again and it's my birthday tomorrow and I really don't want to be feeling like this on my birthday, argh. I'm annoyed at myself.
Around 4 years ago I was scratching my eye and felt a small lump under my skin, not on it, in my lower lid margin, it's below the eyelashes slightly. For some reason then I thought absolutely nothing of it and carried on with my life. Over the years I have gently swiped my finger over it to see if it is still there which of course it is.
Anyway, last week I woke up with puffy eyes (not unusual) but in my usual twist of being in this vicious cycle I for some reason focused on that area of my eye and wondered if this was connected to the lump.
And so it began. I read up and googled (I know, I'm daft for that!) and the main thing that came up was a chalazion, very common and very benign, but then I came across articles about rare tumours of the eye that manifest as chalazion. So I have spent the past week doing hot compresses and pretty aggressively massaging the lump in hopes that if it is a blocked gland/chalazion it will melt away (although after 4 years a cyst isn't going to melt away is it?), pulling the under eye skin taut so I can feel it's consistency and obsessively checking for more swelling and eyelash loss. I am aware my behaviour is obsessive.
What has freaked me out is that I had never ever pulled the skin tight enough away to feel it properly. So whilst it's not grown, and it's not, it is very firm. It is also small. It feels like a popcorn kernal or a very tiny peppercorn. I do know that cysts can calcify but in my cloud of doom I am fearing the worst. Usually the under eye skin on it is "loose" enough that it kinda smoothes it out.
I had an eye exam 30th September (first adult one!) and nothing was mentioned, I didn't even mention it as I totally forgot I had it.
Now my poor eye is more inflamed than it probably needs to be due to my pulling and tugging and I'm pretty sure I have inflamed this little lump.
Has anyone else experienced anything similar? Can cysts last this long? Would something more serious go undetected for years? Honestly, if it wasn't around my eye area I wouldn't even be freaking out.
I noticed it at 29 years old, now 33. No history of anything like this in my family. It also has no head, it is literally just below the skin, feels like part of a gland/duct or something. No other issues. Just the lump and pulled eye skin. I do have sensitive skin anyway, prone to spots, always have been. Had styes and boils as a kid (non as an adult), had an eye infection around 10 years ago and got a weird bout of pityriasis rosesa around 7 years ago, although that just affected my torso and chest.
Any insights, rational advice, eye doctors or people that understand the human body would be appreciated!
Sorry for the long post!
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