Anyone experienced a broken blood vessel in their eye? Last night I rubbed an itch in my eye and now it looks terrible, full of blood. The optometrist told me it will takes about 3 weeks to heal. Is that prednisone at work weakening the blood vessels in my eyes?
If so be careful how hard you rub an itch next time.
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Alebeau
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Pred does weaken the blood vessels there but it’s ok, if a little disconcerting. I got lots of these haemorrhages but they were stopped by using regular watery eye drops in the day and gooier ones at night. They were prescribed by the optician after finding my test film was non existent. As my dosage dropped so did the problem.
Happened almost exactly the same to me a few months ago - I rubbed my eye and there was a mild sharp feeling but I thought nothing about it until I went to the loo and noticed it while washing my hands! I'm also on anticoagulant therapy but it had never happened before. I did ring the GP because of that and she spoke to an eye doc at the hospital but he said it was fine, just keep on with the anticoag. The pred may contribute by making capillaries a bit more delicate but it had never happened to me before in nearly 12 years of pred - whereas my husband got them lots, never been on pred for more than a few days!! Dry eyes probably doesn't help either.
I suppose it was about 3 weeks before it disappeared altogether. No sign of it now. Summer means sunglasses here - and in winter because of snow!!! Very handy
If you use artificial tears the bloody appearance should clear up much more quickly. I find this so. I've also learned that the feeling of irritation is at least sometimes caused by the blood vessel breaking, so you may not have caused the damage by rubbing your eye.
I've had this happen a number of times, both before and after starting on Pred. I don't think Pred has made any difference. My doctor told me not to worry about it.
Yes it’s happened to me three times in the 5 years,and it certainly looks dramatic! On each occasion I first saw it in the mirror and it took me by surprise..Once after swimming,.luckily mine haven’t been really painful,not like some other side effects!!
It’s a subconjunctival haemorrhage. They’re quite common and also harmless. They just look very dramatic but the blood will reabsorb but slowly as it is effectively trapped. It’s doubtful that pred increases the likelihood of one as they can occur just through sneezing or violent coughing.
Dear Alebeau.On Pred over 3 years now with PMR. Last year, just before the first lockdown, I went into a very crowded supermarket in the UK where everyone was in panic mode. People were just too close with no masks at all at the time so the fear of possibly catching Covid was overwhelming.
I came home really stressed and noticed my bloody eye.
I got my optician to check this out and she said it was quite a normal happening, particularly after a stressful situation - the bloody eye was not necessarily caused by PMR or the Pred.
Thank-you for relating your story. It looks plain awful but harmless except for the discomfort and minor pain the first couple of days. Wearing a patch to bed at night just in case I might try to scratch it again in my sleep.
~By rubbing/itching your eye/s is a sure way to introduce an infection - not so good if you are sinus prone either.Have dry eyes which treat with Hylo-Forte during day & Poly Visc by night.
Have unopened Chlorsig 1% Eye Ointment in fridge should I develop infection.
Dr always happy to prx this for emergency purposes especially during lockdown which Auckland NZ is in presently ~
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