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Mahes Visvalingam
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Blepharitis : Castor Oil, Alkalising salts
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Introduction

Several posts on the blepharitis forums confuse blepharitis with conjunctivitis. Many are also confused about anterior and posterior blepharitis.  This site explains it quite well. http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/40025334/. Unfortunately, the advice given on this page did not help in our case. Johnson's Baby Shampoo/ Bicarbonate of Soda/salt – were too harsh when the lids were badly infected/affected by blocked glands. Prescribed antibiotics only provided transient relief and caused bowel problems. We eventually used traditional methods to ease and clear the problem completely.

From 2002 to 2006:
My husband had a blood clot in the central vein of his good right eye (the left eye had a congenital scar across most of the macula).  He initially felt that he had something in his eye and we only became aware of the problem when there was retinal bleeding and glaucoma in 2000.  He had different types of laser surgery but eventually lost the sight in his right eye, which looked red (not just pink), raw and gluey for a long time.  He was in a lot of pain and the consultant referred to it as a very sick eye and indicated that if the pain became unbearable he could remove the eye and fit a glass one.  During the long hours of waiting during our many hospital visits, we noticed that several people had infections of the eye and my husband too started with Blepharitis in 2002.

The consultant said that the infection was due to bacteria and dandruff found on the skin, scalp and eyebrows of most people, and that even if the infection was cleared it was likely to recur given that the eye was by now sick with a detached retina and other problems.  Other websites also suggest that Blepharitis is difficult to clear.  He prescribed antibiotic cream for the eyes and oral antibiotics and suggested that the eye be washed with warm water, with Johnson's Baby Shampoo, Bicarbonate of Soda or salt.  As he said, the problem kept recurring and after 8 months of being on antibiotics the eye looked increasingly red and angry, and became itchy and agonisingly painful. 

Home remedies

· Castor oil Five Essential Uses of Castor Oil (that really work!) - Svastha Ayurveda
When I was a child, Indian Kohl (eye make-up) was made at home by sublimating castor oil and using the oily soot as an eye liner to cool the eye and prevent infections. Some commercial preparations of Kohl are said to be adulterated and contaminated and their use is not approved in the US. Cold pressed oil was used once a month as a health-inducing purgative and for burning in oil-wick prayer and decorative lamps. The Tamil name for castor oil is Vilak (lamp) Ennai (oil).

My husband used neat (straight from the bottle) cold pressed virgin castor oil. With the body heat, the oil will ooze into the eyes so there is no need to try and get it onto the eyelid edge itself. We applied castor oil on the outside at the edge of the eyelids at bedtime and whenever needed during the early days of treatment. We used Virgin Castor Oil BP ((BP stands for British Pharmacopoeia - a book listing approved drugs) which was produced under licence by Thornton & Ross in the UK but they no longer market this.

The oil will irritate inflamed lids but but is tolerable. Within 4 days there was a distinct improvement in the health of the eye and the Blepharitis was completely gone by the 11th day. On our next visit, the consultant confirmed that the Blepharitis had gone but warned that it would come back. I gave him copies of pages on castor oil from Indian and Western Herbals, pointing out Castor Oil is an excellent solvent of pure alkaloids and such solutions of Atropine, Cocaine etc. are used in ophthalmic surgery. It is also dropped into the eye to remove the after-irritation caused by the removal of foreign bodies. Mrs M Grieve’s Modern Herbal can now be browsed online and is an excellent resource. A Modern Herbal | Castor Oil Plant (botanical.com).

Consultants can only use NICE-approved drugs and he would not in any case recommend raw castor oil given the risk of adulteration, as warned in some Indian texts. He sent me copies of Japanese research on using hydrolysed castor oil and said that he would undertake some clinical testing of commercial preparations containing hydrolysed castor oil once they became available after getting approval from the Ethics Committee. Given that my husband’s eye was already blind and Indians have monthly oral doses of castor oil as a cleansing purgative, we were happy to take the risks.

The blepharitis did come back once, many years later, after my husband had a bout of flu but the castor oil soon cleared it up. It also cleared up eye bruising etc. after cataract and other operations. We had to give up on the steroid Vistamethasone since it caused body wide very itchy rashes. He has had some discomfort in the eye but in general this has been due to dryness (caused by the laser treatments) and proprietary saline drops are often sufficient to lubricate the eye and keep it comfortable.

Please read the additional notes on castor oil – under construction.

· Bicarbonate of Soda- Castor oil did not get rid of blepharitis and dry eyes in a friend. It helped my husband because the cause was local. In acid-base balance, I included her case where her long term eye problems resolved as a side-effect of treating abdominal pain with an alkalising drink to cure her systemic acidosis.  Please note that we had already tried bicarbonate of soda as an eye-wash without benefit.  It looks like stress causes acidity of body fluids, ideal for fungal and bacterial infections.  The alkalising drink appears to have corrected the over acidity, leading to the spontaneous resolution of her very long standing eye and other problems.

· Soothing herbs
Wash the eyelids with lukewarm (never hot on inflamed skin) chamomile tea and drink some of the tea, which is soothing. (There are more effective herbs, such as eyebright, but they are expensive and my husband was wary of them.
Once the problem was under control, chamomile tea, ordinary tea, and just plain boiled water (cooled) are much more soothing than shampoo, salt etc. and seem to be as effective in cleaning the eye.). NOTE: those who are allergic to the American ragweed, may also have a cross reaction to chamomile and related plants. Chamomile cleans the eye well since it is slimy – use the tea bag to wipe the closed eyes. A lady called Sandy said that elderflower tea helped her recover from blepharitis.

Disclaimer
© Mahes Visvalingam, 15 Jun 2006
Last revised 18 Nov 2021