A popped blood vessel in your eye, known medically as a subconjunctival hemorrhage, resolves on its own within about two weeks. There is no way to speed up the healing process, but there are things you can do to stay comfortable and avoid making it worse while the blood clears.
What Actually Happened in Your Eye
A tiny blood vessel burst in the conjunctiva, the thin, clear tissue that covers the white of your eye and lines your eyelids. When this vessel breaks, the blood leaks into the space between the conjunctiva and the white of your eye. Because the blood is trapped under a clear membrane with nowhere to drain, it sits there looking bright red and alarming until your body gradually reabsorbs it.
Despite how dramatic it looks, this type of bleeding doesn’t reach the inside of your eye. It doesn’t affect your vision, and it typically causes no pain. You may not have even noticed it until someone pointed it out or you looked in the mirror.
Why It Happened
Anything that briefly spikes pressure in the veins around your head and face can pop one of these tiny vessels. Common triggers include coughing, sneezing, vomiting, straining during a bowel movement, heavy lifting, and strenuous physical exertion. Even blowing your nose hard can do it. Some people get one after rubbing their eyes too aggressively or sleeping in contact lenses.
Blood-thinning medications, including aspirin and anticoagulants, make it easier for bleeding to occur and can cause the red patch to spread wider before it starts to resolve. High blood pressure and diabetes also increase the likelihood, especially for people who experience these episodes repeatedly. If you’re getting popped blood vessels in your eye more than once or twice a year, it’s worth having your blood pressure and clotting function checked.
How to Manage It While It Heals
Most broken blood vessels in the eye heal completely within two weeks. You can’t flush the blood out, and no eye drop will make it disappear faster. Your body reabsorbs the blood at its own pace. What you can do is manage any mild irritation that comes with it.
If the eye feels scratchy or dry, over-the-counter artificial tears can help soothe the surface. Avoid eye drops marketed as “redness relievers,” which work by constricting blood vessels and won’t address this type of redness at all. The blood is under the surface, not in the vessels these drops target.
A few things to avoid during healing:
- Rubbing your eye. This can re-irritate the area or break additional small vessels.
- Aspirin or ibuprofen (if you’re taking them for minor aches, not a prescribed regimen). These thin the blood and may slow clotting.
- Contact lenses if the eye feels irritated. Give it a day or two of rest.
What the Healing Process Looks Like
The bright red patch won’t fade evenly. Over the course of one to two weeks, it shifts through color changes similar to a bruise. You may notice it turning darker red, then brownish, and finally a yellowish tint on the white of your eye before it disappears completely. A larger hemorrhage that covers more of the white may take closer to three weeks to fully clear. The color changes are normal and don’t mean anything is going wrong.
When a Red Eye Needs Medical Attention
A standard popped blood vessel is painless and doesn’t interfere with your sight. If your situation doesn’t match that description, something more serious may be going on.
A condition called hyphema involves bleeding inside the eye itself, in the chamber between the cornea and the colored part of your eye (the iris). Unlike a subconjunctival hemorrhage, hyphema causes pain, blurred or distorted vision, and sometimes nausea. The blood may look like it’s pooling in front of your iris rather than on the white of your eye. Hyphema usually results from direct trauma, like a blow to the eye, and requires prompt treatment.
Get to an emergency room or eye specialist if you experience any of the following alongside a red eye:
- Sudden vision loss in one or both eyes
- Severe eye pain
- New flashes of light or floating spots in your vision
- Bleeding that followed a direct hit to the eye or face
- Blood that appears to be inside the eye rather than on the white surface
Reducing Your Chances of Another One
Because most subconjunctival hemorrhages are triggered by sudden pressure spikes, the most practical prevention strategies involve reducing strain. Treat constipation so you’re not bearing down. If you have seasonal allergies or a cold that causes violent sneezing, managing those symptoms helps. When lifting heavy weights, focus on controlled breathing rather than holding your breath, which raises venous pressure sharply.
If you have high blood pressure, keeping it well managed is one of the most effective long-term strategies. Uncontrolled hypertension weakens small blood vessels throughout the body, including the delicate ones in the conjunctiva, making them more prone to rupture under even minor stress. Repeated episodes without an obvious trigger are often a signal that blood pressure or a clotting issue deserves a closer look.