Chalazion in Emergency Medicine Workup

  • Author: Jane Lee Fansler, MD; Chief Editor: Barry E Brenner, MD, PhD, FACEP   more...
 
Updated: May 15, 2012
 

Laboratory Studies

  • The diagnosis of chalazion is usually a clinical one and often does not require further workup. The provider should be certain the eyelid lesion is a sterile inflammation that will resolve with limited intervention.
  • The provider must ensure that the patient has an adequate understanding of the typical progression of an uncomplicated chalazion: resolution within a few months. Recurrent symptoms, refractive errors, or persistent lesions should prompt the provider to further investigate the lesion.
  • Fine-needle aspiration cytology of chalazia with atypical clinical presentation provides a means of documenting the diagnosis and excluding malignancy but should be deferred to an eye specialist.
  • Viral and bacterial cultures can provide results to include or exclude an infectious etiology but tend to be low yield.
  • Visual acuity testing
  • Visual field testing
Proceed to Treatment & Management
 
 
Contributor Information and Disclosures
Author

Jane Lee Fansler, MD  Resident Physician, Stanford University/Kaiser Permanente Emergency Medicine Residency Program

Jane Lee Fansler, MD is a member of the following medical societies: Alpha Omega Alpha, American College of Emergency Physicians, Emergency Medicine Residents Association, and Phi Beta Kappa

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Coauthor(s)

Erik D Schraga, MD  Staff Physician, Department of Emergency Medicine, Mills-Peninsula Emergency Medical Associates

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Sally Santen, MD  Program Director, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Vanderbilt University

Sally Santen, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Emergency Physicians and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Specialty Editor Board

David FM Brown, MD  Associate Professor, Division of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Vice Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital

David FM Brown, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Emergency Physicians and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Francisco Talavera, PharmD, PhD  Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy; Editor-in-Chief, Medscape Drug Reference

Disclosure: Medscape Salary Employment

Douglas Lavenburg, MD  Clinical Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Christiana Care Health Systems

Douglas Lavenburg, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

John D Halamka, MD, MS  Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Chief Information Officer, CareGroup Healthcare System and Harvard Medical School; Attending Physician, Division of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

John D Halamka, MD, MS is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Emergency Physicians, American Medical Informatics Association, Phi Beta Kappa, and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Chief Editor

Barry E Brenner, MD, PhD, FACEP  Professor of Emergency Medicine, Professor of Internal Medicine, Program Director for Emergency Medicine, Case Medical Center, University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Barry E Brenner, MD, PhD, FACEP is a member of the following medical societies: Alpha Omega Alpha, American Academy of Emergency Medicine, American College of Chest Physicians, American College of Emergency Physicians, American College of Physicians, American Heart Association, American Thoracic Society, Arkansas Medical Society, New York Academy of Medicine, New York Academy of Sciences, and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

References

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Chalazion. Photo by Larry Stack, MD.
Chalazion with the lid inverted. Photo by Larry Stack, MD.
 
 
 
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