Subconjunctival Hemorrhage

When small, delicate blood vessels break beneath the tissue covering the white of the eye (conjunctiva), resulting eye redness may mean that you have a subconjunctival hemorrhage.

A subconjunctival hemorrhage usually is benign, causing no vision problems or significant eye discomfort despite its conspicuous appearance.

But eye redness also can be a sign of other types of potentially serious eye conditions. Particularly if you have eye discharge, you should visit your eye doctor for an eye exam to rule out an infection caused by bacteria, virus or other micro-organism.

You should seek immediate care from an eye care professional whenever you experience unusual and persistent redness of the eye accompanied by a sudden change in vision, pain or strong light sensitivity. This type of eye redness can be a sign of other eye problems such as sudden onset of glaucoma.

Although it is not always possible to identify the source of the problem, some potential causes of subconjunctival hemorrhage include:

• Eye trauma
• A sudden increase in blood pressure that can result from heavy lifting, coughing, sneezing, laughing and constipation
• Blood thinners such as aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) and warfarin (one brand name is Coumadin)
• Rarely, a blood clotting disorder or vitamin K deficiency (vitamin K aids the functioning of proteins necessary for blood clotting)

Lubricant artificial tears can soothe the eyes, although eye drops cannot help resolve the hemorrhage itself.

If you are taking aspirin or blood thinners, continue taking them unless your doctor specifically instructs you to do otherwise.

Make sure not to rub your eye, which can increase the risk of re-bleeding right after onset — similar to how a nose bleed is susceptible to re-bleeding in the early stages.

In most cases, it takes seven to 10 days for the hemorrhage to dissipate on its own. As the hemorrhage disappears with time, the affected area can change color, like a bruise.