Jan 26, 2021
Interviewer: It's another edition of ER or Not with Dr. Troy Madsen. Go ahead and play along and see if you know the answer to today's situation. You have a broken blood vessel in the eye and I'm talking about like, you know, sometimes you'll see somebody, they have an eye and there's just like a lot of blood in it, right? Is that a reason to go to the ER or not?Dr. Madsen: So this is probably not a reason to go to the ER. So if you wake up . . .Interviewer: Dr. Madsen: They look nasty and they look awful. It's kind of like if you get like a scratch on your face and you have a Band-Aid, everyone is going to ask you about. If you have a Band-Aid on your finger, no one ever asks you about it. But if it's in your eye . . .Interviewer: All about location, yeah.Dr. Madsen: Yeah. If you get a little bruise on your arm, no one's asking you. If it's a bruise in your eye, everyone is going to mention it. So it's something that draws a lot of attention, but it's not something you really need to go to the ER for.Broken Blood Vessel Behind CorneaNow, the one exception to this might be if you get hit in the eye and there's actually blood behind the cornea, so behind that clear part of the eye in front of the iris, the colored part of the eye, and you see a line there that looks really dark, that's more concerning. So that's not behind the white part of the eye, that's behind the cornea and that's called a hyphema. So the reason that's concerning, that can cause issues with high pressure in the eye and cause staining of the eye, all sorts of things that can be problems, that would be a reason to go to the ER. But here we're talking more about you wake up in the morning, you've got blood in the white party of your eye in the sclera. And you say, "Wow, this looks awful," probably you don't have to go to the ER. You could probably just go see an ophthalmologist or an optometrist. Interviewer: All right. And what causes that, do you know?Dr. Madsen: You know, most cases I see, it's some kind of trauma. Someone got poked in the eye or they hit something or maybe they were just rubbing their eye too hard and it just caused a little blood vessel to burst. You got to figure those vessels are pretty small, probably doesn't take a whole lot of pressure or trauma to make one of those burst open and that's usually what causes it.Interviewer: All right. So just to make sure I'm clear, if it's in the white of the eye just go see my own eye doctor. If it's behind the colored part of the eye like a red line or something, that's when I should go to the ER.Dr. Madsen:
 For Patients
Find a doctor or location close to you so you can get the health care you need, when you need it. Find a DoctorRelated PodcastsWhen should I worry about a burst blood vessel in my eye?Call your doctor if the blood doesn't go away in 2 or 3 weeks, if you also have pain or vision problems, if you have more than one subconjunctival hemorrhage, or if the blood is anywhere inside the colored part of your eye (iris).
How do you treat a popped blood vessel in your eye?Treatment. You may want to use eye drops, such as artificial tears, to soothe any scratchy feeling you may be experiencing. Beyond that, the blood will absorb within about 1 to 2 weeks, and you'll need no treatment.
What causes burst eye vessels?These bright red patches on the white of your eye can arise from rapid increases in blood pressure, violent coughing, powerful sneezing, heavy lifting, or even intense laughing. The use of blood-thinning medications or even aspirin can cause the blood vessel to erupt as well.
Can you pop a blood vessel in your eye from stress?The white part of the eye is well served by a small capillary network of blood vessels which are very delicate. If there is enough stress put on these vessels in the form of blood pressure then they will pop, thus filling the fluid filled cavity between the eyeballs surface and the conjunctiva with blood.
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Popped a blood vessel in my eye
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