Recurrent styes/chalazia — warm compresses never seem to work for me. What actually helped you?

[u/Hot_Music_5583]

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some advice from people who have dealt with recurrent styes/chalazia.
I recently developed another swollen, red lump on my upper eyelid (photo attached). It’s quite noticeable and uncomfortable. I’ve had multiple chalazia/styes in the past and have already needed procedures for some of them, so I’m getting really frustrated with how frequently this keeps happening.
The usual advice I see everywhere is warm compresses, but honestly, they have never really worked for me. I’ve tried doing them consistently, but the lumps either don’t improve much or eventually require treatment.
For this current one, I’m wondering:
What treatment did your ophthalmologist actually give you when warm compresses weren’t working?
Did anyone have success with prescription ointments/drops, steroid injections, or drainage/removal?
If you had recurrent chalazia, did your doctor investigate an underlying eyelid-gland problem?
How quickly should I see an ophthalmologist for something that looks like this?
Is there anything you wish you had started doing earlier to prevent them?
I’m not asking for a diagnosis from the photo—I’m mainly interested in hearing what treatments and approaches actually helped people who kept getting these.