What Is Subconjunctival Hemorrhage?

Subconjunctival Hemorrhage
 in my right eye

MYE DOMAIN ENTRY:

July 24, 2014

Being highly myopic and highly astigmatic, I'm compelled to wear toric contact lenses. Glasses are safer but lenses are more comfortable. I've been using them for decades and fortunately, I've encountered no serious complications for long-term use except last week when my right eye got red. 

Actually, it's my sister who first noticed redness in the right corner of my right eye. I did not feel any pain or itchiness. I was alarmed when I saw it totally red upon waking up the following morning. I didn't suspect it was a sore eye but I still went to the clinic and had it check.

It's my first time to be diagnosed with a so-called, subconjunctival hemorrhage. I was advised not to wear lenses for a week or two until the redness disappears completely.

What is Subconjunctival Hemorrhage?

It is similar to an ordinary bruise on the skin - it's like a bruise of the eye. It usually appears as a single, concentrated spot of red, or many scattered red splotches, on the white of the eye. The redness is blood under the conjunctiva, a clear membrane that covers the white of the eye (called the sclera) and the inner eyelids.

Seeing a subconjunctival hemorrhage on your eye can be alarming. Yet it is actually a common minor occurrence. It is almost always harmless and will heal on its own. It does not affect vision and generally does not cause pain. There are usually no sensations or symptoms, other than the appearance of the red spot. In fact, you may not even be aware that you have a subconjunctival hemorrhage until someone points it out or you look in the mirror. -Source

What are the causes?

The conjunctiva contains nerves and many small blood vessels. These blood vessels are usually barely visible but become larger and more visible if the eye is inflamed. These blood vessels are somewhat fragile and their walls may break easily.

• Sneezing
• Coughing
• Straining/vomiting
• Increasing the pressure in the veins of the head, as in weight lifting
• Eye rubbing or inserting contact lenses
• Certain infections of the outside of the eye (conjunctivitis) where a virus or a bacteria weaken the walls of small blood vessels under the conjunctiva
• A medical disorder causing bleeding or inhibiting normal clotting.
• A sudden increase in blood pressure. -Source

I am hypertensive and I take my maintenance medication daily but the doctor told me that it may shoot up due to strenuous activities. I do household chores but that's a daily routine. The culprit may be my lenses that need replacement... or maybe, I lifted something heavy. Whatever the cause, I just have to be cautious from now on. 

My Journal 2: Dirty Ice Cream

MYE DOMAIN:

October 23, 2014

Why “dirty ice cream”? Is it because this favorite frozen delight a dirty food? Actually, even I don’t know why it’s called such. So, I made some research about its origin and the reason behind its name.

Here in the Philippines, eating "dirty ice cream" is not only a thing of the past but still a habit of the present. When we were kids, we used to wait for "Mamang Sorbetero" or the ice cream vendor to pass by our street and buy a cone of this cold treat. Dirty ice cream peddlers use colorful-painted carts that can accommodate three flavors.

"Ice cream was introduced in the Philippines during the American Occupation when refrigerators and other cooling devices were introduced. While the American ice cream was made with cow's milk, using the milk of the carabao, a kind of water buffalo, resulting in a cheaper product which became known as "sorbetes." 

Both kinds of milk are widely used today. Coconut milk and cassava flour are two other ingredients used that make sorbetes unique from ice cream made in other countries. Flavors also varied from the usual natural fruits such as mango, avocado, melon, jackfruit, coconut, and strawberry to flavors imitating commercial ice cream such as chocolate, cookies and cream, cheese, mocha, ube, etc.

The sorbetes industry competes with commercially available ice cream from giant companies operating in the Philippines such as Arce Dairy, Magnolia, Nestlé, and Selecta, which also started peddling their product in the streets in more sanitized carts." -Source

In my kid's generation, the ice cream can be placed in plastic cups like what these two schoolmates are holding, wafer or sugar cones or bread buns. They always enjoy eating dirty ice cream together after class.

The term is dirty ice cream because it's being sold in the streets peddled by hawkers who don’t wear any gloves to avoid germs getting into the food. Buyers are not sure if the vendors’ hands are clean and how these ice creams are being prepared. There is a health risk in buying this cold treat but children can hardly avoid the temptation.