Evelyn McWilliams wrote:
>
> Anyone suffer from dry, itchy eyelids that improved with paleo eating? I experience frequent chalazia (blocked meibomian glands that develop into lumps in the eyelids). Thought to be caused by chronic blepharitis.


I get some of that, have since college. It comes and goes
with the seasons. As soon as I start using hot water for
showers in the cooler weather, my skin gets real dry, and
the eyes get itchy. I am sure it is mainly the hot water.
Soap makes it worse too.

Paleo has helped a lot, but not completely. The best drug I
have used is kenalog cream. I usually use butter now, it
stops the itch but doesn't cure it.

If you read old books, you find that a lot of the ancient
peoples rubbed oil on their skin, it is a common feature in
ancient stories. My guess is that paleo peoples, adapted as
they were originally for the African climate, used animal
grease in the winter to help them resist the drying effects.
We are such clean freaks now that we don't let our skin get
oily enough. A friend of mine from Indonesia, when he moved
to a cold country, put olive or coconut oil in his bath
water. He said that cured his dry skin. I use it for my kids
sometimes too.

If I get lumps on the edge of the eyelid, I just wipe them
off with a cotton swab. That seems to do it.