Do We Need To Evaluate Patients With Spontaneous Subconjunctival
Hemorrhage For Bleeding Disorders?
Abstract
Aim of the study: Subconjunctival hemorrage (SCH) is a frequent bleeding
manifestation and a common cause of visits to the primary care. Trauma
in young patients and vascular damage such as hypertension in the
elderly are the most common causes of SCH and the prevalence of
hematological diseases is less than 1%. We aimed to evaluate the
prevalence of congenital or acquired bleeding disorders in patients with
once or recurrent SCH. Methods used to conduct the study: It is a
retrospective study and included fifty-two patients with SCH whose
etiologic factor was not detected. Hemostatic tests were studied in 52
patients (25 male and 27 females). All patients included were
evaluated for congenital or acquired bleeding disorder and SCH with once
and those with 2 or more were compared for the laboratory results.
Results of the study: Type I von Willebrand disease (vWD) was diagnosed in one patient with recurrent SCH and one patient with single SCH (3.8%). The prevalence of patients with type 1 vWD in the study was not
statistically significant when compared with the frequency of vWD in the normal population. Fibrinogen
level was found to be statistically higher in patients who had SCH once
than those who had recurrent SCH. But fibrinogen level was in normal
range in all patients. Conclusions drawn from the study and clinical
implications: There was no increase in the incidence of congenital or
acquired bleeding disorder in SCH compared to normal
population. For this reason it was thought that there was no need for evaluation for bleeding disorders in spontaneous SCH.