 [ Symptoms ] should a cook with an eye stye work [ Disease ] styes hordeolum are not contagious or infectious like conjunctivitis pink eye they are really just inflamed oil glands yes these things can be very nasty looking but they do not pose any risk to customers as long as the cook maintains a high level of personal hygiene hand washing not trying to touchsqueeze these painful lesions he is capable of working if the cook is in full view of customers as he is preparing their meals it could result in a few double takes from people who may not understand the nature of styes i work closely with children and babies every day if i had a big stye i would probably just stay home apply some hot compresses and wait for it to resolve i pose no risk to the babies but i would get tired of explaining my eye to parents in general a stye is not contagious so it is not a problem for a cook to continue to work as always you would want to still practice good hand hygiene here is a previous answer by dr hoffman on this same issue <link>