so what causes bloodshot eyes? in this video I'm gonna be going over some of
the reasons people develop red bloodshot eyes as well as how we treat bloodshot
eyes in the clinic and some of the things that I think about as an eye
doctor when I see somebody with this condition let's take a look. hello and
welcome to dr. Allen here from the Doctor Eye Health show helping you learn all about
the eyes and finding the best vision product so if you're new here to the
channel and like taking care of your eyes then hit that subscribe button so
you don't miss any of my future videos and today we're talking about a blood
shot eyes actually fairly recently a few weeks ago former Vice President Joe
Biden during an actual like live event he was talking about climate change he
actually developed a red bloodshot eye on screen live and it looked pretty
sinister now when this happens we actually call that a sub conjunctival
hemorrhage and then it's actually we're one of the blood vessels underneath the
soft conjunctival tissue on the front surface of the eye one of these blood
vessels actually bursts and because of that front membranous tissue of the eye
again called the conjunctiva is actually clear the blood ends up pooling
underneath that tissue and it kind of looks as just like blood on the eye and
yeah this looks pretty nasty usually when people have this they're
pretty freaked out they're worried that something terrible has happened with
their eye but for the most part it's really just a pop to blood vessel that's
really all it is then one of the blood vessel bursts and now the blood is
pooling so yeah it's not usually as bad as it looks
Phillip most people who come into the clinic for one of these bloodshot eyes
they actually will say that they rubbed their eye because there I felt kind of
weird and then eventually somebody else or themselves looked in the mirror and
sad whoa with my eyes all red now so it kind of comes in that question is it red
because they poked themselves in the eye or rubbing it or was it feeling
irritated because it was swelling with blood and then they were rubbing their
eye and then they just happened to notice so it's kind of one of those
chicken or the egg sort of things but it's true that by rubbing or poking the
eye it just believed that yes you can burst some of the blood vessels on the
eye and that can actually cause this whole problem in the first place but
actually one of the more frequent causes of having a bloodshot eyes anything
causes increased pressure of your upper body cavity this includes things like
coughing sneezing maybe lifting weights in fact even just bearing down while
going to the bathroom can cause this problem I actually had a gentleman come
in who had a really good time the night before hanging out with his buddies I
think they were celebrating his birthday but he drank too much and he actually
vomited and that next morning he woke up with two bloodshot eyes yes both of his
eyes were completely bloodshot and he was freaking out but yes you can get
these bloodshot eyes from doing something very simple such as sneezing
or lifting something heavy but there's actually some systemic issues that I
actually have to worry about when I see you in the clinic for this condition
most notably is blood pressure so if somebody has elevated blood pressure
then this could actually be an early sign that they're having problems so if
you're having this issue and maybe have a family history of blood pressure
issues or you yourself haven't checked their blood pressure and wallet you
don't see a regular your family physician on a regular basis that could
be an indication of why you'd have a bloodshot eye like this and that's also
more of a concern for us because if you have elevated blood pressure you're at
higher risk of things like heart attack and stroke so ya need to check the blood
pressure now with bloodshot eyes most people don't get them that often it's
just once in a while but sometimes people actually come in there saying hey
I'm getting like three or four of these a month that's a little bit more
concerning for me when I start hearing that's happen more frequently that's
when I start ordering blood tests to kind of rule out other major issues with
the blood itself maybe that person is anemic or maybe in a worst case scenario
they could even have leukemia and that's cancer of the blood that's something
that we have to be really alert for but thankfully that's very rare and I've
only had to order blood tests for that maybe like two or three times know when
it comes to treating or getting rid of a bloodshot eye and I mean that a
subconjunctival hemorrhage that's again that blood pooling underneath that soft
tissue of the eye that's very different from just treating a red eye that's
caused by dryness or a allergy or something like that and I do have
another video covering more of that topic if you'd like to see that I will
hook that up in a link up here but when it comes to a true subconjunctival
hemorrhage or bloodshot eye doctors really don't do much because these
naturally resolved on their own just a couple of weeks usually most
people notice the blood starting to basically resorb into the tissues and
the redness will kind of gradually go to a pink and then sometimes even leave a
little bit of a yellow brown spot kind of like it's resolving bruise or
something like that but in more severe cases the blood can pool a little bit
and that causes swelling and so people will feel it as they blink and so often
times it's giving an artificial tear people will use some sort of lubrication
on the eye that will help improve comfort same thing with using cold
compresses that often times makes things feel better as well I can think Philippe
for most people when they have these bloodshot eyes it's not as bad as it
often looks however if somebody has elevated blood
pressure or they're getting them more frequent that's when we start to get
more concerned and we start ordering extra tests so last question of the day
have you ever had a red bloodshot eye like the ones we've shown here if so do
you know why you had it was it because you sneezed really hard lifted weights
or is there something else going on go ahead and connect in the section below
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