How to Clean Eyelids

Cleaning Your Eyelids with a Solution

Wash your hands before touching the eye area. Washing your hands makes sure they are clean and prepared to come in contact with the delicate area around the eye. Be sure to use warm water and an antibacterial soap on your hands before any time you plan on touching your eyes.

Make a cleaning solution with warm water and mild baby shampoo. Fill a glass with 2–3 fluid ounces (59–89 ml) of warm water. Add 3 drops of baby shampoo to the water. Stir the water and shampoo thoroughly with a spoon. Don’t feel like making your own cleaning solution? Look for a premade eyelid-cleaning solution like Sterilid, Cetaphil, or Ocusoft at your local drug store.

Massage the solution into your eyelids using a cotton ball. Keep your eyes closed so the cotton ball doesn’t irritate them. Gently rub the cotton ball back and forth across each eyelid for 15-30 seconds. If you don’t have cotton balls, use a cloth or lint-free gauze pad or washcloth instead.

Use a cotton swab to brush away any flakes on your eyelids. Dip the cotton swab in the cleaning solution and gently brush it back and forth across the surface of your eyelids. Spend 30 seconds brushing each eyelid with the cotton swab, making sure to get the lash line and lid margin. Be sure to use a different cotton swab for each eye. Use a magnifying mirror for this step so you can see the tiny flakes on your eyelids.

Rinse your eyelids with cold water. Lower your face over a sink and use your hands to bring cold water to your eyelids. After you’ve rinsed all the solution off your eyelids, pat them dry with a towel.

Taking Makeup off Your Eyelids

Use an oil-based remover if your eye makeup is waterproof. An oil-based remover will make it easier to take off your eye makeup so you don’t have to scrub as hard. If you’re not wearing waterproof eye makeup, any kind of eye-makeup remover will work. You can find oil-based remover online or at your local drug store.

Apply your eye-makeup remover to your eyelids with a cotton pad. Hold the soaked cotton pad over your eyelids for 10 seconds. This will allow the remover to dissolve your eye makeup, which will make it easier to get off. To save yourself time, look for cotton pads that are pre-soaked in eye-makeup remover. Use a different cotton pad for each eye.

Wipe from the inside corner to the outside corner of your eyelids gently. Don’t use an aggressive scrubbing motion or you could pull out eyelashes and damage the skin around your eyelids. Just gently bring the cotton pad across the surface of your eyelids.

Wipe down over your eyelids to remove any remaining makeup. Start at the inside corner of your eye and work your way to the outside corner. Use a gentle wiping motion as you bring the cotton pad down over both your upper and lower eyelids. Avoid rubbing back and forth across your eyelids so you don’t damage the skin around them.

Wash off any leftover eye-makeup remover with a face wash. Wet your face and gently work the face wash into your skin with your hands. Gently rub the face wash over your eyelids to remove the eye-makeup remover you used.