Conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, is inflammation of the outermost layer of the white part of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelid. It makes the eye appear pink or reddish. Pain, burning, scratchiness, or itchiness may occur. The affected eye may have increased tears or be "stuck shut" in the morning. Swelling of the white part of the eye may also occur. Itching is more common in cases due to allergies. Conjunctivitis can affect one or both eyes.
Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethra, vagina or anus, or through a puncture in the skin. Hypovolemia is a massive decrease in blood volume, and death by excessive loss of blood is referred to as exsanguination. Typically, a healthy person can endure a loss of 10–15% of the total blood volume without serious medical difficulties. The stopping or controlling of bleeding is called hemostasis and is an important part of both first aid and surgery.
Shaken baby syndrome (SBS), also known as abusive head trauma (AHT), is a medical condition in children younger than five years old, generally caused by blunt trauma, vigorous shaking, or a combination of both. SBS is the leading cause of fatal head injuries in children under two, with a risk of death of about 25%. The most common symptoms include retinal bleeds, multiple fractures of the long bones, and subdural hematomas.
Intracranial pressure (ICP) is the pressure exerted by fluids such as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) inside the skull and on the brain tissue. ICP is measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and at rest, is normally 7–15 mmHg for a supine adult. This equals to 9–20 cmH2O, which is a common scale used in lumbar punctures. The body has various mechanisms by which it keeps the ICP stable, with CSF pressures varying by about 1 mmHg in normal adults through shifts in production and absorption of CSF.
A bruise, also known as a contusion, is a type of hematoma of tissue, the most common cause being capillaries damaged by trauma, causing localized bleeding that extravasates into the surrounding interstitial tissues. Most bruises occur close enough to the epidermis such that the bleeding causes a visible discoloration. The bruise then remains visible until the blood is either absorbed by tissues or cleared by immune system action. Bruises which do not blanch under pressure can involve capillaries at the level of skin, subcutaneous tissue, muscle, or bone.
Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), also known as intracranial bleed, is bleeding within the skull. Subtypes are intracerebral bleeds, subarachnoid bleeds, epidural bleeds, and subdural bleeds.
In the anatomy of the eye, the conjunctiva is a thin mucous membrane that lines the inside of the eyelids and covers the sclera. It is composed of non-keratinized, stratified squamous epithelium with goblet cells, stratified columnar epithelium and stratified cuboidal epithelium. The conjunctiva is highly vascularised, with many microvessels easily accessible for imaging studies.
Hypovolemic shock is a form of shock caused by severe hypovolemia. It can be caused by severe dehydration or blood loss. Hypovolemic shock is a medical emergency; if left untreated, the insufficient blood flow can cause damage to organs, leading to multiple organ failure.
Mallory–Weiss syndrome is a condition where high intra-abdominal pressures causes laceration and bleeding of the mucosa called Mallory-Weiss tears. Additionally, Mallory-Weiss syndrome is one of the most common causes of acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding, counting of around 1-15% of all cases in adults and less than 5% in children. It has been found that tears are up to 2 to 4 times more prevalent in men than women. The tears can cause upper gastrointestinal bleeding and predominantly occur where the esophagus meets the stomach. However, the tears can happen anywhere from the middle of the esophagus to the cardia of the stomach. Mallory-Weiss syndrome is often caused by constant vomiting and retching from alcoholism or bulimia. Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is another risk factor that is often linked with Mallory-Weiss syndrome. However, not every individual with Mallory-Weiss syndrome will have these risk factors. Individuals with Mallory-Weiss syndrome will have hematemesis, however the symptoms can vary.
Epidural hematoma is when bleeding occurs between the tough outer membrane covering the brain and the skull. When this condition occurs in the spinal canal, it is known as a spinal epidural hematoma.
A petechia is a small red or purple spot that can appear on the skin, conjunctiva, retina, and mucous membranes which is caused by haemorrhage of capillaries. The word is derived from Italian petecchia 'freckle', of obscure origin. It refers to one of the three descriptive types of hematoma differentiated by size, the other two being ecchymosis and purpura. The term is typically used in the plural (petechiae), since a single petechia is seldom noticed or significant.
A red eye is an eye that appears red due to illness or injury. It is usually injection and prominence of the superficial blood vessels of the conjunctiva, which may be caused by disorders of these or adjacent structures. Conjunctivitis and subconjunctival hemorrhage are two of the less serious but more common causes.
Retinal hemorrhage is a disorder of the eye in which bleeding occurs in the retina, the light sensitive tissue, located on the back wall of the eye. There are photoreceptor cells in the retina called rods and cones, which transduce light energy into nerve signals that can be processed by the brain to form visual images. Retinal hemorrhage is strongly associated with child abuse in infants and young children and often leaves such abused infants permanently blind. In older children and adults, retinal hemorrhage can be caused by several medical conditions such as hypertension, retinal vein occlusion, anemia, leukemia or diabetes.
Hyphema is the medical condition of bleeding in the anterior chamber of the eye between the iris and the cornea. People usually first notice a loss or decrease in vision. The eye may also appear to have a reddish tinge, or it may appear as a small pool of blood at the bottom of the iris in the cornea. A traumatic hyphema is caused by a blow to the eye. A hyphema can also occur spontaneously.
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stroke. Symptoms can vary dramatically depending on the severity, acuity, and location (anatomically) but can include headache, one-sided weakness, numbness, tingling, or paralysis, speech problems, vision or hearing problems, memory loss, attention problems, coordination problems, balance problems, dizziness or lightheadedness or vertigo, nausea/vomiting, seizures, decreased level of consciousness or total loss of consciousness, neck stiffness, and fever.
Cerebral contusion, Latin: contusio cerebri, a form of traumatic brain injury, is a bruise of the brain tissue. Like bruises in other tissues, cerebral contusion can be associated with multiple microhemorrhages, small blood vessel leaks into brain tissue. Contusion occurs in 20–30% of severe head injuries. A cerebral laceration is a similar injury except that, according to their respective definitions, the pia-arachnoid membranes are torn over the site of injury in laceration and are not torn in contusion. The injury can cause a decline in mental function in the long term and in the emergency setting may result in brain herniation, a life-threatening condition in which parts of the brain are squeezed past parts of the skull. Thus treatment aims to prevent dangerous rises in intracranial pressure, the pressure within the skull.
Brain herniation is a potentially deadly side effect of very high pressure within the skull that occurs when a part of the brain is squeezed across structures within the skull. The brain can shift across such structures as the falx cerebri, the tentorium cerebelli, and even through the foramen magnum. Herniation can be caused by a number of factors that cause a mass effect and increase intracranial pressure (ICP): these include traumatic brain injury, intracranial hemorrhage, or brain tumor.
Traumatic aortic rupture, also called traumatic aortic disruption or transection, is a condition in which the aorta, the largest artery in the body, is torn or ruptured as a result of trauma to the body. The condition is frequently fatal due to the profuse bleeding that results from the rupture. Since the aorta branches directly from the heart to supply blood to the rest of the body, the pressure within it is very great, and blood may be pumped out of a tear in the blood vessel very rapidly. This can quickly result in shock and death. Thus traumatic aortic rupture is a common killer in automotive accidents and other traumas, with up to 18% of deaths that occur in automobile collisions being related to the injury. In fact, aortic disruption due to blunt chest trauma is the second leading cause of injury death behind traumatic brain injury.
Intraocular hemorrhage is bleeding inside the eye. Bleeding can occur from any structure of the eye where there is vasculature or blood flow, including the anterior chamber, vitreous cavity, retina, choroid, suprachoroidal space, or optic disc.
Valsalva retinopathy is a form of retinopathy due to retinal bleeding secondary to rupture of retinal vessels caused by intrathoracic or intra-abdominal pressure due to physical activities.
