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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.