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6115635 tn?1379218995

Blue scleral ring suddenly appeared in eyes. Serious?

Age: 22. Female. 6 days ago, I was getting over a small reaction to antibiotics that I had to take for 5 days for infection (I had no symptoms) but it showed up in my urine. The meds made me feel weak, fatigued, shaky, & a little nauseous. Doc said I'm probably sensitive to the sulfa in the generic I took. Anyway, I was also waking up w/ very bloodshot eyes for a couple days. Later on in the day I check if my eyes had cleared up & noticed very distinct, thick, blue/grey circles in both my eyes. The circles are oddly...perfectly shaped. They're NOT touching the iris. They're about 1cm away from my iris & go all the way around. I told my doctor about it 4 days ago & he looked at it, told me that it wasn't caused by the antibiotics, that I was probably just "looking for it" & its probably been there all my life & I've just never noticed it. I wanted to snap at him but I held my tongue. Trust me, as many times as I've looked at my face, done my eye makeup, etc, throughout my life, I would have seen this before. Through my research, I found that it could be due to high cholesterol or iron-deficiency anemia. My blood test 2 weeks ago showed my cholesterol & hemoglobin were normal. Anything I see in the eyes that is cholesterol related on the internet shows a blue ring directly on the iris on the edge. So unless my iron has dropped that much that quickly, I don't know what would cause this. A lot of info about Osteogenesis Imperfecta or Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome has come up in my search too. I'm 5'6", no spinal problems, & my bones don't dislocate a lot like EDS describes. When I was like 12, I found out I have very little cartilage in my knees which is why they make grinding sounds. The only signs I have are: I'm double-jointed, the blue sclera, &lightheadedness almost every time I stand up recently. Every now & then my knees or elbows get "stuck" (no pain) & I have to "pop" them back but that's it. What could cause this? Should I go to an eye doctor or a GP? Is it serious??
3 Responses
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2078052 tn?1331933100
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
First I would see an ophthalmologist to determine the cause of the ring.  If it is in the sclera, it could be due to thinning of the sclera, which will allow the underlying pigmented choroid to be seen.  Sometimes thinning like this can be associated with arthritis, so I would start with the ophthalmologist and then determine if you need to see your internist.
Helpful - 1
Avatar universal
A related discussion, Hi redbedhead was started.
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6115635 tn?1379218995
Thanks so much for getting back to me! (My profile picture is a picture of my eye if you would like to take a look).

Update: I actually visited an ophthalmologist 2 days ago. He had never seen it before and he has, as he said, "seen a lot of eyes". He confirmed it as blue sclera and that you can see it because my sclera is very thin, but why it has thinned we do not know at the moment. He was very nice. He didn't want to give me a diagnosis until he did some research on his own over the weekend and he got my contact information so he could contact me Monday to let me know what route would be best to take for further testing. He did say that he may end up sending me to a Rheumatologist to possibly be tested for Ehlers-Danlos and other possibilities. I'm just glad he didn't dismiss me like the other doctor. I will keep this page updated in case anyone else searching for answers finds this and hopefully I'll get some more information soon and be on my way to finding out the cause.

Thanks again!
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