Corneal Subepithelial Hemorrhage

Abstract

A 68-year-old man noted sudden blurring of vision on his right eye after an episode of sneezing. Two years previously, he underwent an uncomplicated lens extractionof the same eye and had been wearing a soft contact lens for a year. Ocular examination showed a hemorrhagic area at the upper nasal part of the cornea (Fig 1). Biomicroscopy revealed the blood to be located between the corneal epithelium and Bowman membrane. A limbal blood vessel at the 2-o'clock position was noted to be confluent with a corneal subepithelial hemorrhage (Fig 2). The epithelial surface did not reveal any fluorescein staining, and there was no blood in the anterior chamber. There was progressive spontaneous clearing of the hemorrhage beginning at the periphery, and on the third week, the blood completely disappeared without any residual corneal staining. Visual acuity returned to 20/25 with a new contact lens. Note: The photographs on the opposite