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Eye and Vision Care

Eye Disorders

06/21/2010

Question:

I actually have two questions one of them I`ve done alot of searching and found a few possible causes for.

question 1: adult male 76 yrs. of age high blood pressure, diabetes that has one blood-shot eye with no pain, no vision issues some headache and the whole eye pupic looks black. My mom said he looks like it`s a blind person`s eye but bloodshot.

question 2: my 4 year old son has black spots in the whites of his eyes.

Answer:

Question 1: The blood shot eye without pain is most likely a subconjunctival hemorrhage. This occurs when a small blood vessel breaks and blood pools in a space just above the white part of the eye. It usually looks very bad, but usually is not a problem. I am wondering if the adult male is on a blood thinner of some sort (such as aspirin or warfarin)

Question 2: The black spots on the white portion of the eye are probably near the end of a red blood vessel, and if so, they are axenfeld loops. These are an accumulation of pigment surrounding a blood vessel, which dives deeper into the white part of the eye. They are completely normal and do not cause any problems.

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Response by:

Aaron Zimmerman, OD, MS Aaron Zimmerman, OD, MS
Clinical Associate Professor of Optometry
College of Optometry
The Ohio State University