Hyphema

[KatieMary]

My husband was shot under his eye 1/4 inch from his globe on July 19th. Originally his eye filled up with blood to about 30%. The opthamalogist told us that a blood vessel to his iris was damaged and that is why the blood was filling up his iris. His retina and cornea are fine with no damage. His is on 4 different eye drops...Azopt 2x day....Lumigan 1x day...Combigan 2x day.....and  steriod drop for inflamation. For the first two weeks he also had a drop to keep his eye dialated. His pupil is not responding to light. The dr was able to dialate it with drops though. Will his pupil ever go back to normal? If so how long does it take and what are the chances it will go back to normal. The dr said he didnt have to order and u/s of his eye bc he could see his retina however besides knowing my husband has a hyphema are there any other tests we coukd have done to see what damage his injury caused. We have great PPO insurance so no problem with that. :-)))

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

He should see his ophthalmologist ASAP and should call his answering service to report this today. It could be a retinal tear. An ultrasound or OCT cannot always pick up a retinal tear/hole. Usually it can tell if there is an RD

JHCH MD

[KatieMary]

My husband is seeing flashes of light now in the injured eye? Some of the blood is still in his eye and has not reabsorbed yet. Could he have a possible tear under the blood that cannot be seen? Would an eye ultrasound be able to detect a tear if there is one?

[KatieMary]

Thank you I most definitely will. :-)

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

That question is way too broad to answer. If you want you can google or use Pubmed Central on the many uses and indications of ocular ultrasound.

JCH MD

[KatieMary]

Would an eye ultrasound only be used to be able to see if retina was injured? What other reasons would an opthamalogist order one? What are the benefits of having one done?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

It is very difficult to tell if complications will develop down the road. The Eye MD that is taking care of him can give you the best estimate. Yes there is some risk that an RD could develop down the road. Again its important to ask your Eye MD.

I've had a child get a hyphema from a very soft fuzzy slipper her sister playfully threw at here the risk there is very low of complications down the road. Then I've had a professional hockey player hit right in the eye with a hocky puck off a slap shot, there the risk is very high.

JCH MD

[KatieMary]

Is he still at risk for retinal detachment even though it didnt detach after the accident and is still ok?

[KatieMary]

Is there a specific test he should have done to determine the extent of damage?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

He has had a very serious injury and he could get traumatic glaucoma, cataracts, retinal detachment, macular damage, corneal blood staining.  The accident often damages the muscle tthat constrictus the pupil so some poeple are left with a pupil that is permamently larger than the other (traumatic iridoplegia) so only time will tell. It could run the range from no injury and as good as new to very poor vision from compoications.

JCH MD

[KatieMary]

By the way, the day after the accident my husband was able to see with 20/30 vision in injured eye. However, his eye pressure went up to 36-38 but now it is being controlled by the drops and is staying in the 17-20 range. He was being seen every day for thd first week and then once this week and he goes back to see dr again in 2 weeks. Is two weeks too long of a stretch. I was thinking every week at the very least what sounding more reasonable for monitoring his eye.