Subconjunctival Hemorrhage
Subconjunctival Hemorrhage
A subconjunctival hemorrhage can be caused by a few conditions. One of them noted above is from taking a blood thinner or aspirin. The picture above is that of a Baseball Pitcher in his senior year of high school after pitching a game. He took four aspirin over a 1/2 hour period and developed the above noted subconjunctival hemorrhages. Also, noted in the picture he still had his contact lenses in when coming to the office that afternoon. He was a very good pitcher and received a full sports scholarship to a Division I College. He graduated and is now a State Policeman.
A subconjunctival hemorrhage can also be cause by some blunt objects such as a closed fist which is noted in the photo above. Luckily with this young man, there was no bone, retinal, or corneal damage. This condition resolved over about a week though he was instructed that future fights may cause short term and long term loss to his vision. A blunt injury that has impacted the cornea and compressed the lens of the eye may cause a rosette cataract and/or glaucoma twenty or even thirty years down the road. My first patient in the clinic while in Optometry School in Philadelphia was such a case. He was a 60 year old man who was hit in the eye by a rubber dart gun at Christmas. At that time he had a red eye that cleared up after about a week. Thirty years later when he was examined, I noted a rosette cataract and glaucoma. Pretty amazing for your first case! Cataract surgery was completed and medication was prescribed to bring back the vision and decrease the pressure in that eye.