Hello and thanks for your question.
When you have a stye, the medicine usually only helps a little bit, but often times does not resolve the situation. Styes need to be treated with intensive hot compresses. By this I mean, as hot as you can tolerate for 10 minutes each time, 4x/day. This can take sometimes up to 2-3 weeks of doing this before it resolves. If it doesn't resolve by then, it may need to be opened up by an ophthalmologist.
It sounds as though you have been using the hot compresses, it just needs to be more intensive and for a longer period of time. It is not uncommon for a stye to need two to three weeks of this treatment before it will resolve; most of them do with this regimen. Of course, this is easier said than done in a three year-old child, but nevertheless an important step to do. However, there are some that don't and then they would require a surgical procedure to resolve, and for your child, given how young she is, she would likely need general anesthesia to do this.
Something that can be given to help cut down on the incidence of these is a low dose doxycycline for one month that can help thin the secretions of the oil glands in the eyelids. However, in children forming teeth it can cause yellowish-brown discoloration to the teeth and can even cause enamel hypoplasia (malformation) and so is not a decision made likely.
The styes themselves usually do not lead to more serious problems. They are usually an annoyance, a cosmetic problem, and usually only cause mild discomfort. Occasionally if they are very large and chronic then they can press on the eyeball, changing the shape of the eye and induce a need for glasses, but this is not common.
Does this make sense and does this help address your concerns?
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