It’s a jarring way to start a Tuesday. You stumble into the bathroom, splash some water on your face, look in the mirror, and see a patch of bright, violent red staring back at you. It looks like a scene from a horror movie. You didn't feel anything pop. There is no pain. Just a localized pool of blood sitting right on the white of your eye.
Basically, you’ve joined the millions of people who have woke up with broken blood vessel in eye, a condition doctors officially call a subconjunctival hemorrhage.
While it looks like a medical emergency, it’s usually the ocular equivalent of a bruise on your arm. Think about it: when you hit your shin on a coffee table, the blood stays trapped under the skin. Because the "skin" of the eye (the conjunctiva) is clear, that trapped blood is fully visible. It doesn’t have a tan pigment to hide behind. It’s just there. Bright red. Unapologetic.
What Actually Happened While You Were Sleeping?
Your eye is covered in tiny, incredibly fragile blood vessels. They’re thinner than a strand of hair. Honestly, it doesn't take much to snap one. If you woke up with broken blood vessel in eye, something likely caused a brief spike in blood pressure in those vessels while you were dreaming.
Maybe you coughed hard. Perhaps you sneezed three times in a row. Sometimes, just straining while lifting something heavy or even during a particularly difficult bowel movement is enough to do the trick.
According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, even rubbing your eyes too vigorously during sleep can cause a vessel to rupture. If you have allergies, you might have been itching your eyes in your sleep without even realizing it. The conjunctiva—the clear membrane covering the white part of the eye—doesn't absorb blood very quickly. So, when a tiny vessel leaks, the blood spreads out and gets trapped between the conjunctiva and the sclera (the white part).
It looks like a lot of blood. It’s usually just a single drop.
Should You Be Panicking? (Usually, No)
Most of the time, this is a "wait and see" situation. But how do you know if your red eye is just a bruise or something more sinister?
🔗 Read more: X Ray on Hand: What Your Doctor is Actually Looking For
Doctors generally look for "plus-ones." If you have a red eye plus pain, that's a problem. If you have a red eye plus vision loss, that’s an emergency. If you have a red eye plus discharge or a feeling like there is sand stuck in your eye, you might be looking at pink eye (conjunctivitis) or an infection.
But a subconjunctival hemorrhage is famously painless. You shouldn't feel a thing. Your vision should be as sharp as it was yesterday. If the redness is confined to the white part and doesn't cross over the colored part (the iris), it’s almost certainly a broken vessel.
There are some outliers, though. If you are on blood thinners like Warfarin or even just take a lot of aspirin, these bleeds might happen more often. They might also look bigger because your blood doesn't clot as fast. People with high blood pressure or diabetes are also slightly more prone to these little leaks.
When to Actually Call the Doctor
If this is the third time this month you've woke up with broken blood vessel in eye, it’s time to get your blood pressure checked. Recurrent hemorrhages can sometimes be a "canary in the coal mine" for systemic issues.
Also, if you had actual trauma to the eye—like getting hit with a ball or a stray elbow—you need an exam to make sure there isn't internal damage that you can't see. But for the average person who just woke up looking like a vampire? It’s usually just bad luck.
The Timeline of Recovery
Don't expect this to disappear by lunchtime. It won't.
In fact, it might look worse tomorrow. As the blood begins to break down, the spot might spread out. It might change colors, shifting from a bright "fire engine" red to a dark purple, then a yellowish-orange. This is exactly what a bruise on your leg does as it heals.
💡 You might also like: Does Ginger Ale Help With Upset Stomach? Why Your Soda Habit Might Be Making Things Worse
Expect it to take anywhere from seven to fourteen days to clear up completely. There is no "magic eraser" for this. You just have to wait for your body to reabsorb the blood.
Can You Speed It Up?
Sorta, but not really.
Warm compresses might help the body reabsorb the blood slightly faster by increasing circulation to the area, but the evidence is mostly anecdotal. Using "get the red out" drops like Visine won't help at all. Those drops work by constricting blood vessels that are swollen. In this case, the blood is already outside the vessel. It's just sitting there. Constricting the vessels won't do anything to the pool of blood that's already leaked.
If your eye feels slightly scratchy because the blood has created a tiny bump on the surface, you can use artificial tears. These provide a lubricant layer so your eyelid doesn't catch on the slightly raised area when you blink.
Myths vs. Reality
People love to tell you that a broken vessel in the eye means you’re about to have a stroke. Honestly? That’s almost never true. While high blood pressure is a risk factor, a tiny break in an eye vessel is not the same thing as a bleed in the brain.
Another common myth is that you did it by "looking at a screen too long." While digital eye strain is real and can make your eyes look "bloodshot" (meaning the vessels are dilated and red), it doesn't typically cause a full-blown subconjunctival hemorrhage. That requires a physical break in the vessel wall.
Practical Steps to Take Now
If you're looking in the mirror right now and feeling stressed, here is the immediate checklist.
📖 Related: Horizon Treadmill 7.0 AT: What Most People Get Wrong
First, check your vision. Cover one eye, then the other. Can you see clearly? Good. Next, check for pain. Move your eye around in all directions. Any stinging or deep aching? No? Good. Finally, check the "map" of the redness. Is it just on the white part? If you checked all those boxes, you can probably take a deep breath and go about your day.
If you are on medications that affect your blood, like Plavix or Eliquis, it’s worth a quick phone call to your primary care doctor just to keep them in the loop. They might want to check your levels.
For everyone else, keep an eye on it—literally. Take a photo of it today. Take another one in 48 hours. If it’s getting smaller or changing to a lighter color, you’re on the mend. If you start seeing blood in the colored part of your eye (the iris), that is a different condition called a hyphaema, and you need to see an ophthalmologist immediately.
Immediate Action Items:
- Avoid rubbing your eyes. Even if they feel itchy, hands off.
- Check your blood pressure. If you have a cuff at home, take a reading just for peace of mind.
- Skip the "redness relief" drops. They won't help and might irritate the eye further.
- Use preservative-free artificial tears if you feel any mild irritation or a "foreign body" sensation.
- Wear sunglasses outside. Not because it helps it heal, but because it hides the redness from curious coworkers who will definitely ask you what happened.
The bottom line is that the eye is incredibly resilient but also very dramatic. A tiny leak looks like a major injury because the tissue is transparent. Give it two weeks. By then, your eye will be back to its usual white self, and this will just be a weird story about that time you woke up looking like you’d been in a boxing match.
Keep an eye on the shape of the spot. If it remains localized and the rest of the eye looks healthy, your body is doing exactly what it's supposed to do: cleaning up a minor mess. If you experience any sudden "curtain" over your vision or intense light sensitivity, head to an urgent care or an eye specialist, as these are signs of deeper issues unrelated to a simple broken vessel.