Hello and thank you for your questions, the good news is that from your description it sounds like these are the type of lumps or patches that are quite common but do often alarm people at first.

It is almost certain that these are the harmless white or yellow bumps that appear often as a result of lipid collection or high cholesterol. This does not mean that your blood cholesterol level is necessarily high (though it may be and might be worth getting checked with a simple blood test), as many people who have these lumps have had a cholesterol check and have found their levels to be perfectly healthy. The lumps usually appear because of a collection of fatty cells in the eyelids and can occur equally in both the upper lid and the lower lid, often both.

Unfortunately, if this is the problem there is no simple solution. Many people have tried and failed to find creams, lotions and potions to treat the patches to no avail. Massage may help but you must be extremely careful when massaging around the eye area as the tissues and blood vessels associated are very delicate and more at risk of damage than other areas. Your doctor may recommend surgery to try and remove the lumps by making a small incision through which the white lump can be removed. This may leave some very minor scarring, but many surgeons now use techniques that mean the scars cannot be seen. However this does not mean that the problem won't recur and cause the same problems in the future and a second lot of surgery may not be feasible.

If this does not sound like the problem, you may have some form of cyst in the eyelid, though these are usually easily distinguishable and feel like fluid filled bags that can be moved around slightly when touched.

It is always best to get these things checked out with your doctor to put your mind at rest and also to make sure there are no new solutions that may be suitable for you to try.

Good luck and do let us know if you find a suitable cure for the problem.