Eye bleeding typically means bleeding or a broken blood vessel involving the tissue layers on the outer surface of the eye. This is a subconjunctival hemorrhage. But there is another, less common type of eye bleeding.
In a subconjunctival hemorrhage, the entire white part of your eye may look red or bloodshot, or you may have spots or areas of red in the eye.
Another less common kind of eye bleeding, or hyphema, can happen in the middle, colored part of your eye. Eye bleeding deeper or at the back of the eye may sometimes cause redness.
Bleeding in the eye can happen for several reasons. Most of the time, you will not have blood leaking from your eye. Depending on the location in the eye, bleeding can be harmless or it may lead to complications if left untreated. You should talk with a doctor if you think you may have eye bleeding.
The clear outer surface of your eye is called the conjunctiva. It covers the white part of your eye. The conjunctiva has tiny, delicate blood vessels that you normally can’t see.
A subconjunctival hemorrhage happens when a blood vessel leaks or breaks just under the conjunctiva.
When this happens, blood gets trapped in the blood vessel or between the conjunctiva and white part or your eye. Usually less than one drop of blood is involved. Since the conjunctiva is a loose tissue layer, the blood can disperse around a large area of the eyeball, making things appear much more severe.
Eye bleeding makes the blood vessel very visible or causes a red patch on your eye.
This kind of eye bleeding is common. It usually doesn’t cause pain or affect your vision.
You’ll likely not need treatment for a subconjunctival hemorrhage. It’s usually harmless and clears up in about 1 week.
A hyphema is bleeding inside the eye between the clear cornea and the colored iris.
It happens when blood collects between the iris, and pupil and cornea. The cornea is the clear dome covering of the eye that resembles a built-in contact lens. A hyphema usually happens when there’s damage to or a tear in the iris or pupil.
Hyphema can also develop if abnormal blood vessels spread in this area (neovascularization) and subsequently leak, as happens with diabetic eye disease and other conditions.
