To go to a&e - blood keeps leaking from eye socket.

[cyrkus]

When I say pouring, I’ll suddenly get a gush from my left eye socket, then it stops. It’s happened three times now. Have no idea what to do. It’s not painful particularly - feels like I’ve scratched the eye or irritated it a bit. But - each time it looks pretty gruesome. Any thoughts? Would a&e be unreasonable?

Wow. That’s really bad, @cyrkus - I thought Moorfields was the gold standard for eye emergencies and I too would have gone there expecting sensible treatment, not to be sneered at. I've had a very, very abrupt consultant at my local hospital diagnose PVD in my eye with zero explanation (had to go away and google it later) and he put the fear of God in me by adding curtly 'if you see a black curtain come down over your vision, it's probably a detached retina'. Maybe they all train at the same medical-cum-charm school. Luckily it’s never happened, 20+ years later.

Probably a good idea to try and get referred to a better specialist. Not sure about opticians tbh as I recently had a bit of a nightmare going to 3 local ones in a day just trying to get someone to check I didn’t have an object in my very painful, reddened eye. Nobody was willing to help straight off, had to book an appointment and wait for ages at the back of a queue until finally seen. It was a really depressing experience.

This!!! OMG I never cease to be amazed at the people coming onto Mumsnet to ask 'my left leg has been severed at the knee, would I go to A&E or my GP?' etc

Blood gushing out of eye...... Go GO!

Go to Western Eye Hospital A&E (they are not open all night though) in Marylebone Road. I go there instead of Moorfield.

Id complain if she didn't know she should have reffered onto somebody else. People like her need to know there place & not work in general care at all

Can you see an optometrist - might not be their place but they specialise in eyes & might have heard of it before

That's even more stressful for you! How tf are you supposed to perform at your best with that scene from One Hour Photo lurking in the back of your mind?! Public speaking is stressful enough

I'm not going to post it - if you know you know. I really feel for you and I'd be really pissed off and the dismissive response from the hospital.

I am honestly in despair when I read about hospital experiences like this. Allowing for doctors/nurses being under pressure due to inadequate resources etc, there seems to be a disproportionately large number of medical professionals who have had an empathy bypass. You arrive at A&E because of some sort of acute trauma and you’re anxious, perhaps even scared, only to be met with abruptness and impatience. The eye rolls may not be physically apparent, but you can feel them. I honestly can’t think of more than a couple of times when my experience at A&E has been positive. Even when my mum was brought in by ambulance and died a few days later (so yeah, pretty serious) the attitude in A&E was very dismissive. This wasn’t the case when she was admitted. The doctors and nurses on the ward were fabulous. Maybe stress turns people into unfeeling robots. Or maybe A&E attracts people with that attitude. But it’s horrible to make patients feel like they’re wasting your time.

i hope you have a better experience with the optician OP.

Moorfields are brilliant. I would go if it were me.

Just seen your update. I’m sorry they were so unhelpful.

Gosh for all anyone knows you could have pleurisy!
Please try get an emergency GP appointment this sounds bloody horrific! Must be worse in England as yes A&E is bad here but we can get GP appointments.
I hope you will be ok - I feel genuinely concerned!

As for OP I hope she is OK too - I think an eye doctor is a must or a quicker optical appointment! As someone else said, don't take chances on eyes!

Are you sure you saw a doctor?

Is it possible you saw a Physician Associate?

We keep hearing that they can pretend to be doctors (or fail to disclose they're not doctors), and that patients are given the impression they've seen a doctor when they haven't... We also keep hearing that they're filling in for doctors when they shouldn't be. And PAs keep making headlines due to their lack of training and knowledge, and the subsequent mistakes they make (and the consequences).

If the person you saw didn't really have much knowledge about the area of speciality they're supposed to be working in, I'd be suspicious that they're a PA rather than a doctor.

Very good advice.
Also ask your GP to test your blood glucose levels too.. diabetes is one of the causes of eyesight problems (it can affect the blood vessels).

A walk in at the Opticians and ask for an OCT test, tell them what happened and what happened at A and E and they will write you a referral - which will be taken seriously.

i would go to an optician first, they have all the speciality equipment to look at your eye and will know immediately if further attention is needed

PAs are supposed to tell you that they are not doctors but I guess it would be a good one when someone is as unhelpful as that. (Smiling sweetly) “Excuse me, Dr Cowface, are you sure you’re a real doctor? Just thought I’d check”.

Op I think get to your GP and opticians and ask to be referred to a specialist. This isn't normal. Could it be an issue with your tear ducts?

Did they check blood pressure etc.? Do bloods to check for clotting issues/diabetes? Asking you if it was real is very suspicious?

Woah, woah, woah...that's just a flesh wound. 🤺

@cyrkus I'm glad you went to hospital, but I'm surprised you weren't given a plan (unless optician appt was doctor's idea, but can't imagine that...). At least you have some sort of answer; maybe try for an opthamologist?
I hope you made it through your day in one piece - you must be shattered.

Hi everyone. Thanks so much again for being interested! I think when it happened last night I was sort of in denial/bit shocked as it’s just so GRUESOME to turn on the bathroom light and 👺😳 And once she said it was nothing sinister I think I was so relieved that I slightly let her off the general superiority and arrogance. But … it continues to hurt. And I know something isn’t right. (She was a doctor not PA.)

OP.
Your eye is hurting. PLEASE see your optician.. asap.
And get a blood test from your GP to check that you don't have Diabetes or pre diabetes/high blood pressure etc.. which can affect your eyes.

Hopefully it is nothing to worry about - but please make sure.

Hmm I definitely don’t think I have diabetes. I have slightly high blood pressure (annoyingly as I’m pretty slim and fit). They did the pressure test in the eye and that was fine. I asked the dr whether she thought it could be related to my blood pressure and she said no but also seemed pretty bored by then. I got the impression that she didn’t categorise it as an emergency - without realising that blood pouring from your eye socket really does feel like one!

But I have an appointment with the optician. Can’t get into gp yet as they have closed their new appointments but will also try and do that.

Good for you OP. Hope its all OK.
I had an issue recently and the optician was brilliant, so helpful. Good luck

How's the eye now @cyrkus