Broken Blood Vessel in Eye due to Injury

My husband was playing with our son a few days ago and our son accidently poked him in the eye. My husband grabbed his eye and stated that he felt like our son's finger actually went behind his eye. I looked at the eye and it was a little red. When my husband woke up the next morning he had what appeared to be a broken blood vessel near his tear duct. When he woke up the following morning the blood in the eye seemed to have spread to the inner part of his eye, near the iris. I know that broken blood vessels in the eye normally go away on their own and are not serious. My husband is not complaining of pain, but I know that once the blood reaches the iris or pupil it can become a more serious problem. If he is not having any eye pain or vision problems does he need to be seen by a doctor?
He also wears contacts and has only been wearing them to work. Should he avoid contacts all together?

[Houman Vosoghi, MD]

Tell him to not wear his contacts and go see an ophthalmologist right away.  It is not the blood that I'm worried about ( a subconjunctival hemorrhage clears within a couple of weeks).  With a finger injury, there is always a chance that there was a subtle laceration to the conjunctiva or deeper layers which places him at risk for infection and other problems down the line.  He needs to be seen to make sure this is not the case and to perform a full dilated exam to make sure his retina is free of injury as well.  You could find an ophthalmologist at www.aao.org.

HV