Once you have your blepharitis under control and you are no longer dealing with an active chalazion, the aim changes from treating a flare-up to maintaining healthy eyelid glands and preventing recurrence.

During this maintenance phase, you should continue with eyelid hygiene once or twice a day.

The best time is usually at night before bed.

Why? During sleep, there is much less eyelid movement, which means the meibomian glands are not being naturally expressed as often. If your glands are already prone to blockage, this can allow the secretions to become thicker and contribute to blockage.

So ideally, clean and express your eyelid glands before you go to sleep.

A morning routine can also be helpful because it clears away any sleep debris or crusting and gives your eyelids a fresh start for the day.

Your evening routine

Imagine this:

You have had a busy day. You have removed your contact lenses, taken off your makeup, washed your face, brushed your teeth, and you are standing in front of the sink.

This is the perfect time to do your eyelid hygiene.

Warm → Massage → Wipe

Step 1: Warmth

Take your clean muslin cloth (which you may have left drying on your towel rail during the day) and warm it with warm tap water.

Place it gently over your closed eyelids.

You do not need extreme heat — just a comfortable warmth.

Keep it there for around 2-3 minutes to soften the secretions inside the meibomian glands.

Step 2: Massage

After warming the eyelids, you massage the glands.

For the upper eyelid:

• Roll your fingertip from the top of the eyelid downwards towards the eyelid margin

For the lower eyelid:

• Roll your fingertip upwards towards the eyelid margin

The important word is roll.

Do not drag the skin with your finger.

The eyelid skin is delicate, and repeated dragging can cause unnecessary irritation over time.

You need to apply enough pressure to express the glands effectively.

Some people worry: "Am I going to squash my eyeball?" The answer is no. The eye has its own mechanisms to maintain its shape and pressure. Gentle but effective pressure on the eyelids is safe.

The aim is to encourage the oil secretions out through the natural openings along the eyelid margin.

Step 3: Wipe

Once you have expressed the secretions, you wipe away the debris.

Wrap your muslin cloth around your fingertip and gently wipe along the eyelid margin.

This removes the excess oil, crusts, and debris without aggressively rubbing the eyelid.

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Adding tea tree oil wipes or gel

After your warm massage and wipe, you can use a tea tree oil eyelid product, either as a wipe or a gel.

Tea tree oil has natural antiseptic properties and can help reduce bacterial overgrowth on the eyelid margin.

Normally, the bacteria living on our skin are harmless. However, when the balance changes and there is excessive bacterial proliferation, it can trigger inflammation and worsen blepharitis symptoms.

Tea tree oil products designed for eyelids are formulated to be gentle and should not sting, although some people may find them irritating.

You can:

• Leave the product on to work
• Wipe it away if you find it irritating to your eyelid or eye surface

Eye drops and ointments

If you use lubricating drops, put these in after your eyelid hygiene routine.

During the day, you may prefer a lighter artificial tear such as Hylo-Forte if you do not like thicker products.

At night, a thicker ointment is often more suitable, such as Hylo Night, Xailin Night or Hydra Med ointment or a similar lubricating eye ointment.

These products are more viscous, so they stay on the eye surface for longer and provide overnight moisture.

There is also a practical advantage: once you put in a night ointment, your vision becomes temporarily blurred because it is thicker. This is actually a useful reminder to stop looking at your phone or using screens before bed.

Screens and dry eyes

Modern life involves a lot of screen use.

When you concentrate on a screen — especially when watching fast-moving content or scrolling through videos — you naturally blink less.

Less blinking means:

• Less spreading of the tear film
• More evaporation
• A drier eye surface

This is often worse towards the end of the day, especially if your work involves prolonged screen use.

So once your night ointment goes in, it is a good opportunity to step away from devices.

You might listen to an audiobook, a podcast, or simply allow yourself time to relax before sleep.

And that is your daily blepharitis maintenance routine completed.