Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be

talking to you about subconjunctival hemorrhage. And if you want to follow along with written notes on

this topic, you can follow along at zero tofinals.com slash subconjunctival hemorrhage or in the

ophthalmology section of the zero definals medicine book.

So let's get straight into it.

Subconjunctival hemorrhages are a relatively common condition where one of the small blood

vessels within the conjunctiva ruptures and releases blood into the space between the sclure

and the conjunctiva.

These hemorrhages often appear after episodes of strenuous activity,

like heavy coughing, weightlifting or straining when constipated.

It can also be caused by trauma to the eye.

So let's start early with a quick tom tip.

Most cases of some conjunctival hemorrhage are

idiopathic, meaning that they come on without a clear underlying cause and the patient

is otherwise healthy. However, there's a number of conditions that may predispose them to developing

a subconjunctival hemorrhage. So when a patient turns up with a subconjunctival hemorrhage,

use it as a clue to think about

other conditions that may have caused the subconjunctival hemorrhage, or at least contributed to it.

And these are things like hypertension, so it's worth checking their blood pressure.

Bleeding disorders, for example, thrombocytopenia or a low platelet count.

Whooping cough or potassium infection can cause such severe coughing that they develop.

Medications like warfarin, doax or anti-platelet medications like aspirin or clipidigril,

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