Have you ever rubbed your eye and then noticed, a small clear bump on the white of the eye?  Usually rubbing will just cause redness, but sometimes excessive rubbing of the clear vascular tissue (the conjunctiva) that lays on top of the white of the eye (these sclera) can cause a cyst to form.  Think of it like a blister, like the ones you get on your feet when your shoes rub an area over and over again.  The good news:  these cysts are harmless.  The bad news:  they aren't very comfortable, and can be really hard to get rid of.

If you have a conjunctival cyst, the best thing you can do is avoid irritating it further -- that means no eye rubbing or poking at it try to get it to pop.  As you blink, you may feel the cyst under your eyelid, creating an uncomfortable irritation.  Over the counter artificial tears can help improve comfort, but until the cyst is gone, the irritation of it rubbing against your lid will persist.

This large cyst will probably require excision and drainage to fully heal.  You can see the blood vessels in the conjunctival tissue clearly here--if one gets nicked during the excision you may have a little bleeding.  This is why your surgeon is such a highly  trained professional!

How to Treat

You can try just using artificial tears and wait for the cyst to go away on its own, but sometimes a doctor's intervention can speed the process up quite a bit. Your eye care provider is going to check carefully to make sure nothing is trapped in the eye or eyelid that could be rubbing the area.  A little speck of dirt or debris could be your culprit. I have found that steroids (drops or ointments) can help decrease the size of the cyst, but they don't work with every patient.  For large, persistent cysts sometimes the only treatment is to get the cyst drained.  The procedure is painless (a topical anesthetic is used), but you may get a little bleeding due to the surrounding blood vessels in the conjunctival tissue.