Average Jane's Evil Red Eye

I was going to blog about my weekend and other fun and lighthearted things, but I got distracted this morning when I went to put in my contacts.  As I raised my left contact lens to place it in my eye, I looked into the mirror and saw that most of my left eyeball was a horrible blood-red.  Aaaghh!

Naturally, I sought advice from a dozen websites of varying shadiness.  There was a reasonable amount of consensus that:

• It's a subconjunctival hemorrhage
• They're not a big deal
• They heal up on their own in 2-3 weeks without treatment

Apparently this often happens when someone coughs or sneezes (both of which I did quite a bit yesterday thanks to my allergies).  Considering that I managed to break a blood vessel in my finger the weekend before last while wrapping up instrument cables, I'm guessing it didn't take much to violate the tender little capillaries in my eyeballs.

The Internets couldn't give me a definitive answer about whether or not it was okay for me to wear my contact lenses, but considering that my glasses give me a headache and look really, really ugly (not that my hideous red eye isn't ugly, but you know...), I decided to put my last fresh lens in my left eye and take my chances.  My eye doctor hasn't returned my call, but I have an appointment with him on Saturday anyway, so I suppose it can wait.

If you're tempted to leave alarming comments about potential underlying medical causes, you'll be happy to know that I have a complete physical scheduled for Friday morning.    In the meantime, I'll wear my sunglasses as much as possible and try not to scare small children.

Comments

[cagey]

OMIGOD. I noticed YESTERDAY that the corner of your eye was red. I was going to mention it, but then we got distracted and I figured you already knew anyway.

If it doesn't get better, hound your eye doctor - you shouldn't wait til Saturday, in my opinion.

[Jane]

Actually, I did end up getting an eye doctor's appointment this evening. I'm sure it'll all be fine. (Ugly, but fine.)

[Jane]

In case anyone's interested, the doctor pretty much repeated everything I learned online, but did tell me it's okay to wear my contacts as long as they feel comfortable.