sub- conjuctival haematoma (?)

[marantha]

Over the past fortnight, I've had various flu-like symptoms.
I was diagnosed with conjunctivitis.
Went back to see doc today who told me I have above (sub-conjunctival haematoma).
He examined my eye itself and said it was "fine". My vision in affected eye is slightly blurred.

What is this sub-conjunctival haematoma?

Various other symptoms over past fortnight i.e. sore throat, ear infection, aches and pains.

sub conjunctival haematoma is basically just a blood vessel that has burst under your eye. i had one and completely freaked out - my eye was all red! but it is pretty benign. it should just repair itself - it eventually turns yellow, fades and disappears. just think of it like a bruise on your eye.

can be cause by a blow to the eye or i think by things like violent coughing etc. which is what did it for me - i got it at the end of a horrid cold with loads of coughing and sneezing so doctor thinks it was that.

so it's a result of your illness, but not anything to be scared about - kind of like getting a red raw nose from all the nose blowing IYSWIM.

at least, this is how it was all explained to me when i had it!

if you have concerns about your vision itself I would make an appt with an optician.

Thanks for the replies.
The doc I originally saw prescribed fusicidic (sic) acid which I had a reaction to-eye swelled horribly.

As long as doctor isn't worried (I've seen three separate ones over the past week) I guess I shouldn't be either. Just looks awful and eyesight in right eye is slightly blurred and I am v. scared.
megonthemoon was your vision in affected eye slightly blurred, too?

marantha - it does look awful and is quite scary! i normally take little illness things in my stride, and am actually quite fascinated by them as I watch too much Holby City but found this quite unsettling. It's hard when your eyes aren't right as the thought of something going wrong with your vision is scary.

TBH I don't particularly remember if my vision was blurred or not. I do remember that it did sting a bit and feel a bit sore - rather like a bruise would be anywhere else I guess. I kept trying to tell myself that however awful it looked it was just a bruise - a bruise on your knee looks blue because the skin hides the fact that it is red blood underneath, whereas the white of your eye shows up the blood in all its glory which is why it freaks you out. I felt happier once it started to fade to yellow, like a bruise on your skin does, as that made me feel like it was normal IYSWIM.

If you are worried, I'd suggest an optician's appointment so they can check your vision. Your doctors have given you the medical all clear which is good, but an optician may be able to put your mind at rest about any impact on your vision, which I imagine is short term. It could just be that the blood is partially covering your iris and pupil which is why you have a little blurring. IME (DH has had some various eye issues over the years) opticians are great at diagnosing and explaining eye problems, and referring on if needed.

I would seek the reassurance of an optician re the blurring - I don't see why bleeding vessels in the conjunctiva should make your vision blurry, as you see through the cornea, which is clear and bloodless, so shouldn't be directly affected. It sounds to me as though the blurring of vision is a slightly different issue. I'm not a doctor or eye expert, though.

A subconjuctival hemorrhage wouldn't make your vision blurred, you need to get it checked by an optometrist (optician). Colds and flu type infections can cause viral keratitis which can make your vision blurred, or it could just be dryness associated with the conjunctivitis. Either way opticians would be able to check and refer on if neccessary.
Optometrist x

Thanks for all replies. Thankfully, the blurriness seems to be dying down today.
I would like to keep this thread alive, though.

I can't help but feel that it is somehow related to the flu-like symptoms.
I also think the fusicidic acid had a very negative effect upon my eye.
I don't want to be all OCD here, but I think touching my eyes with an infected finger played a part in all this.

Well, you can get viral conjunctivitis, so it is frequently one of the symptoms of colds. Having a cold and wiping snotty fingers into your streaming eyes can also encourage bacterial conjunctivitis to develop. Your lowered immune system during a nasty illness can also make you more susceptible to other infections, including those of the eye. And an allergy to anything you put directly into your eye is also going to upset the equilibrium of your eye a lot, cause tissue to swell and possibly result in a bacterial infection or, at the least, extreme discomfort until everything has settled down. So all in all, I would say it was definitely related to your flu-like symptoms!

I hope it all settles down, soon - sore, blurry eyes tend to make one feel very miserable indeed, as we do rather rely on our eyesight!

Thankfully, eyesight seems back to normal now (touch wood). There seems to be a few red blood spots remaining but that is all.

Thanks for all replies.
In future, I shall make sure that I do my best not to touch eyes during flu symptoms.
I will also question putting anything in my eyes in future as I am convinced that the fusicidic acid made things much worse- OK, these things happen nobody to blame, but I don't want to go through that reaction again as I've never been so scared.

I hope this thread remains here for anyone else who gets this in future to see.

I sympathise! I've had a similarly violent reaction to fucidic acid - I thought I had bad conjunctivitis until I put fucithalmic in and discovered what totally gummed up eyes were like... my eyes swelled up, my vision went blurry and it was hugely uncomfortable to keep the lids open to see at all! Fortunately there are other antibiotics you can use if you are allergic to this one, and the best first resort is to try regular bathing of your eyes with cooled boiled, lightly salted water, as that can help soothe the eyes and fight off bacterial infections. And remember not to use the same eyebath (or cotton wool ball) for each eye unless you disinfect it before swapping to the other eye and again prior to the next time you use it at all, as you can pass infections very easily from one eye to the other. Eye infections, or any sort of eye discomfort, are hideous.

rabbitstew The whites of my eyes appeared to be like red jelly after this fucidic acid stuff. I think the cure was worse than the disease!

The trouble is that I panicked and because my eyes were slightly red and producing greenish-coloured fluid I immediately went to see the doctor. I should have not panicked but I did.

In future, I will use a simple remedy of cooled water to bathe the eyes with cotton wool balls. Then some over-the-counter optrex for infected eyes.

You're right about the ease of passsing infections to one eye to the other- I tried my best to stop the infection spreading to the right eye from the left, but of course when asleep you toss and turn and when I woke the gunk had trickled over the bridge of my nose to the other eye.

It's hard not to sound patronising here, but I would advise anyone with a cold/flu to be very, very careful- don't let the fact that you're too exhausted/fed up to wash your hands often stop you from doing so DO IT before touching eyes because I wouldn't wish the eye thing on my worst enemy.