eye pain, ruptered blood vessel, conjunctiva

[frog2]

all of a sudden  have minor outer conjunctival pain and my friend says when I look medially it exposes red area as in broken blood vessel....................can this cause minor pain.........

I had rubbed my eyes about 2 hours earlier..........

no gross evidence of ulcer, it is away from the cornea........

[Sandy Feldman, MD, MS]

Dear frog2,

From your description, it sounds as if you may have had a conjunctival hemorrhage.  Conjunctival hemorrhages may be associated with trauma, rubbing one’s eyes, high blood pressure, medicines which prevent clotting of the blood such as coumadin, aspirin and increased pressure.  The hemorrhage resolves over time.  I would definitely see an eyeMD to determine whether you indeed have a conjunctival hemorrhage and to have your blood pressure checked.

Dr. Feldman

Sandy T. Feldman, M.D., M.S.
ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center
San Diego, California

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

A broken blood vessel on the conjuctiva is called a subconjuntival hemmorhage.  It will usually resolve on its own in a week or so.  If there is associated pain, discharge, vision loss then you should probably see an ophthalmologist.  If just an isolated small area of blood on the eye, again it will usually go away on its own and is usaully from coughing, or straining, or rubbing the eye.  Blood thinners like aspirin make these more common.

MJK MD