Information
Editors
KirsiIkäheimo
LindaVottonen
Subconjunctival Haemorrhage (Suggillation)
Essentials
- Elevated blood pressure (remember to measure!) or other underlying treatable cause may lie behind sugillation.
Aetiology
- Suggillation usually develops spontaneously.
- Elevated blood pressure, anticoagulant therapy, conjunctivitis, ocular trauma, a rheumatic or connective tissue disease or epidemic nephropathy are, however, possible underlying conditions.
Symptoms and findings
- The patient is usually totally symptomless and recognizes the suggillation incidentally. Sometimes the eye may feel stiff or coarse.
- The size of the sugillation varies, but typically it is extensive and bright red in colour throughout (picture 1). Sometimes the bleeding area is only narrow and sickle-shaped.
Treatment
- Medicines do not help. The patient can be told that the normalization of conjunctival colour usually takes 1 to 2 weeks.
- Moisturizing eye drops help against a possible sensation of a foreign body in the eye.
- Diagnose and treat the underlying condition.