home remedies for a sty
I unearthed these two remedies for a sty in a second hand german herbal book dating from the early nineteenth century.
The first 'remedy' was to brush your eye with the tip of a black cat's tail.
What is a sty?
Since a sty is an infection of an eyelash folicle I really cannot advise getting a cat's tail anywhere near your eye at all. Not all folk remedies are sensible.
The second option was to bathe the eye in cold tea. There may be some logic to this as tannic acid (present in the tea) is a powerful antioxidant.
The one bit of advice that the book gave that doctors today still agree on is that you should never squeeze a sty as this spreads the infection under the skin.