1. Eye Diseases and Conditions Slideshow Pictures
2. Pink Eye Slideshow Pictures
3. Laser Eye Surgery Slideshow Pictures

Medical Author:

Andrew A. Dahl, MD, FACS

Andrew A. Dahl, MD, FACS

Andrew A. Dahl, MD, is a board-certified ophthalmologist. Dr. Dahl's educational background includes a BA with Honors and Distinction from Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, and an MD from Cornell University, where he was selected for Alpha Omega Alpha, the national medical honor society. He had an internal medical internship at the New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center.

View Full Profile

Medical Editor:

Jerry R. Balentine, DO, FACEP

Jerry R. Balentine, DO, FACEP

Dr. Balentine received his undergraduate degree from McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. He attended medical school at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine graduating in1983. He completed his internship at St. Joseph's Hospital in Philadelphia and his Emergency Medicine residency at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in the Bronx, where he served as chief resident.

View Full Profile

In this Article

• What is a subconjunctival hemorrhage?
• What causes a subconjunctival hemorrhage?
• What are symptoms and signs of a subconjunctival hemorrhage?
• How is a subconjunctival hemorrhage diagnosed?
• What is the treatment for a subconjunctival hemorrhage?
• Can a subconjunctival hemorrhage be prevented?
• Subconjunctival Hemorrhage At A Glance
• Patient Comments: Subconjunctival Hemorrhage - Treatments
• Patient Comments: Subconjunctival Hemorrhage - Cause
• Find a local Eye Doctor in your town
• Subconjunctival Hemorrhage Index

Most of the time, no symptoms are associated with a subconjunctival hemorrhage other than seeing blood over the white part of the eye.

• Very rarely people experience pain when the hemorrhage begins. When the bleeding first occurs, you may notice a sense of fullness in the eye or under the lid. As the hemorrhage resolves, some people may feel very mild irritation of the eye or merely a sense of awareness of the eye.



• The hemorrhage itself is an obvious, sharply outlined bright red area overlying the sclera. The entire white part of the eye may occasionally be covered by blood.



• In a spontaneous subconjunctival hemorrhage, no blood will exit from the eye. If you blot the eye with a tissue, there should be no blood on the tissue.



• The hemorrhage will appear larger within the first 24 hours after its onset and then will slowly decrease in size as the blood is absorbed.

Call your ophthalmologist (a medical doctor who specializes in eye care and surgery) if the subconjunctival hemorrhage does not get better within two weeks or if it has happened multiple times.

Also, call your ophthalmologist if you have a hemorrhage in both eyes at the same time or if the subconjunctival hemorrhage coincides with a new onset of easy bruising or bleeding gums.

 Go to your ophthalmologist immediately if the subconjunctival hemorrhage is associated with

• pain,



• changes in vision (for example, blurry vision, double vision, difficulty seeing),



• a history of recent injury or trauma,



• a history of bleeding disorder, or



• a history of high blood pressure.