Flat Red Patch

Patients sometimes come in startled with a bright red eye! When the white part of the eye has a large blood-red patch on it, we are likely to call it a subconjunctival hemorrhage.

A subconjunctival hemorrhage can look scary, but it’s usually harmless. I often see patients alarmed by the bright red area. A subconjunctival hemorrhage occurs when a blood vessel breaks on the white part of the eye, often from coughing, straining, rubbing, or injury. Sometimes, we never figure out the cause of the bleed. Fortunately, it doesn’t hurt vision and usually clears spontaneously within a week or two; it’s essentially a bruise, just located on the eye. There’s no pain associated with the blood itself, but the appearance can be striking. Usually, reassurance and a little patience are all that’s needed.