Random Red Dot in my ete

[BigPete]

Hello,

About 2 years ago I noticed I had a decent sized random red dot in the white area my eye. I had asked my regular physician and he said it was probably just a bursted blood vessel, and that it would go away within a few weeks. Well, 2 years later I still have it there and saught out my eye doctor. He dialited my eye and said it was pretty much a spider vein and nothing to be concerned about. He said there was not much he could do, but if it grew more he could cauterize it, since it is relatively close to my cornea. Now, the weird thing is, my left eye is fine, and this dot is only present in my right eye. It does have about 2-3 very light red veins coming off of it that tends to run down my eye under my eye lid where you cant see it. It does not affect my vision or anything, but cosmetically its quite an annoyance since people always ask me what happened to my eye. It is a very prominent red dot. Is there anything I have done to this, in order to have it disappear?

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

The red dot is usall where a blood vessel is intering or exiting the sclera an you are seing it on end which gives the round appearance OR a small varicose dilation of a vessel called a angioma (the small, benign kind).  Bottom line is that likely no one is going to be anxious to do anything to it and insurance coverage for benign lesions is usually not covered.
JCH MD

[BigPete]

Thank you for your reply. I am not so much concerned about the veins since they are not the noticable, but more about the red dot. Is there anything that can be done to have that red dot removed? It is kind of difficult to describe, because the dot is not necessarily a vein, but perhaps a small section of one that decided to burst? It is literally a red dot. There are no large veins connecting to it though, besides 3 very little ones which are not that noticable.

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

The amount of veins on the surface of the eye varies from individual to individual and this is usually normal. Just like some people have prominent veins on their hands and wrists and some don't.

If the veins are part of the normal pattern then there is nothing that is practical to do to them. Using "visine" like products for long periods makes it worse.

As a generalization its much more noticible to you than other people.

JCH MD