Burst blood vessel in eye? Doc says don't worry but...(TMI)

Factual Questions
1

Anybody ever burst a blood vessel in an eye?

Here beginneth TMI:
Specifically, while vomiting?

I had the 24 Hour Bug yesterday, kicking off with a 4:00am wake-up from a seriously out-of-whack GI system: a stomach set to “julienne” and a bowel tract on sit-down strike. I prayed for good old Uncle Ralph to come and ease the agony, which happened with near-projectile force: basically it was like having my upper body wrung like a wet sponge.

It was only later in the day (after I was ambulatory again) that I noticed a great big ol’ splotch of red about the size of a pea in between the pupil and tear duct in one eye. “Holy ned!” I thought. “I must have busted a capillary in my eye puking!”
Here endeth TMI.

I called my eye doctor, who said it was not serious unless there was pain (there’s none) or vision impairment (none either…yet). I guess my questions are:

  1. Is my eye doc right? Am I pretty much out of danger? The red spot touches the iris, but does not enter inside it.
  2. How long before this goes away to the point where I can look people in the eye again? Can I expect discomfort to develop in the meantime?
2

A few months ago, I bet this guy I could lift a wrecking ball.

That night, I looked in the mirror and notice a big red spot in my eye, like Jupiter.

It didn’t hurt and it went away. I wouldn’t worry about it. People do it all the time.

3

A broken blood vessel in the eye can be very dangerous when it’s inside the eye. This condition, known as a hyphema, can cause permanent damage to the eye. This does not sound like what you have, however.

4

Yeah, I’ve gotten those before. I don’t think they’re uncommon. Once, it was when we had a “girls night out” and I did shots of tequila after too much beer and spent the night in the bathroom. Another time, I contracted food poisoning and was dry heaving every half hour for around 13 or so hours before I finally went to the doctor. Anyway, I was always told they’re harmless and they’ll clear up in a couple days. They’ll fade to brown and just look real unattractive for a while…

5

Never burst one in the eye… I don’t think. I burst the capillaries all around my eyes while throwing up once. Looked like a raccoon all day.

6

I’ve had one of those, too. When it bursts it’s a truly weird sensation.

FTR, mine was anger and stress related…arguing with my publisher.

7

Oop, I meant a couple of weeks. They’ll fade from red to brown and then finally be a yellow splotch on your eyeball. Like I said, not too attractive…

8

Well, I never burst one while vomiting but I sure did by whacking myself in the eye with a tennis racket. (In my defense, it was in very strong wind).
As everyone else had said, it went away without incident in a few weeks.

Cheers,
Daphne

9

Another anecdote: I was hit in the eye with a racquetball. Not bouncing off the wall, coming right off the other players racquet as I was turned around to watch him hit it. (Yes, of course I have goggles! They’re in the gym bag over there.)

Result: much cursing; broken blood vessels in the white of my eye; trip to ER; diagnosis of “traumatic iritis”; days of red eye slowly changing to yellow then disappearing; no lasting effects.

Lesson learned: goggles don’t do much to help when they’re in your bag.

10

I’ve had those from vomiting a few times. My big fear was that if my eyes were bursting vessels, then what the hell was going on inside my brain? Do I have a zillion little hemorrages bursting in my skull?

I hope not, my WAG is that eye capillaries are very fragile and burst easily.

Any docs in here? How’s my brain?

11

I did this last fall.* My father-in-law, Dr. Dad, said it’s nothing to worry about.

*Warning: GROSS EYE.