There isn’t a week that goes by that an eye doctor doesn’t get a call from a patient saying, “There’s blood on my eye!”  While this can have a rather frightening appearance, it is usually quite benign. Most of the time someone else notices the blood red appearance on the eye first. Some patients may complain of mild irritation along with what looks to be blood on the sclera (the white part of the eye), although the majority of patients usually have no symptoms at all.

 The cause of the redness is exactly what it looks like—a broken blood vessel on the surface of the eye is hemorrhaging and blocking the view of the sclera.  This is what is known as a subconjunctival hemorrhage.  It may be the result of coughing or straining too hard, hypertension (high blood pressure), trauma, taking blood thinners (i.e. coumadin, aspirin, or vitamin E), or a bleeding disorder.  Laughing or sneezing too hard, being constipated, vomiting, or lifting too much weight can also cause a blood vessel to break.

If a patient has a history of recurring subconjunctival hemorrhages over a short period of time, the eye doctor will order blood work to determine if the patient has some type of bleeding disorder.  This is rarely necessary.

While no treatment is required for this type of hemorrhage to resolve, artificial tear drops have proven beneficial for relieving any mild to moderate discomfort associated with the condition.  A cold compress applied to the affected eye twice daily for ten minutes can also be helpful.  In addition, any elective use of aspirin or vitamin E should be discontinued for 3-4 days to help with resolution of the hemorrhage.  Patients who have been prescribed blood thinners should check with the prescribing doctor prior to discontinuing any medications on their own.

Subconjunctival hemorrhages usually clear on their own within 7-10 days.  Larger hemorrhages may take several weeks to clear.  Patients should let their eye doctor know if the blood does not clear completely, or if the condition repeats itself, as blood work may be necessary.

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For many years we have heard from all the experts that smoking and drinking are bad for your health.  Most everyone has come to accept this as fact and decided on their own accord if they want to maintain those habits even if they are harmful to their well being.

When we see commercials or read newspaper articles we have been told smoking will always affect your lungs, throat, teeth and several other body parts.  When you have heard of alcohol abuse you hear liver, kidneys and brain as the parts of the body that are most effected.  Have you ever really heard of the either of these effecting your eyes?  I am going to guess probably not.  It is a simple fact that goes unnoticed most of the time because your eyes may not be affected most by smoking or drinking.  This is however something that does need to be talked about because our ability to see is definitely one of our most precious of gifts.

The list of eye disorders that can be accentuated by smoking include cataracts, macular degeneration and dry eyes.  Diseases that smoking could increase the affects on your eyes would be vascular disease, thyroid eye disease and optic neuropathy.

Everyone develops cataracts as they age, it is a natural process in your eyes, however when you smoke the antioxidants in your eyes are reduced which could cause the cataracts to develop earlier in life and much more dense (thicker cataract) there by effecting your eyes even more.  Macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness and people who smoke are four times more likely to develop the disorder than those who do not.  This is a disorder that you certainly do not want to have to deal with.  If you have a vascular or thyroid disease smoking will increase the risks that are associated with those diseases which could ultimately affect your eyes.  For example if you have vascular disease and smoke the hardening of your arteries may contribute to the optic nerve not receiving enough blood flow which could cause significant vision loss.

Drinking in moderation will probably not have a major effect on your eyes and in some cases drinking a moderate amount of wine could lower the risk of macular degeneration. If you choose to drink excessively then the effects could greatly affect your vision.  Unlike smoking where specific disorders could develop, drinking alcohol excessively will affect the performance of your eyes.  Slow pupil reaction, decreased peripheral vision and decreased contrast sensitivity are among the most common performance issues.  Although these performance issues may not affect you through out your normal daily activities when you drive they could have a profound effect.

Any “habit” that you may have which you may feel will have a negative effect on your body and health needs to be researched because you may know off hand what the core effects are however there are multiple other affects that could be endangering your body and especially your vision.

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