In brief
In brief
- When you have a red eye, the white of your eye is red.
- One or both eyes can be red.
- You can have symptoms such as itching, mucus or pus, watery eyes, a burning feeling and swollen eyelids.
- Some common causes are:
- eye infection
- dry eyes
- inflammation or infection of the edge of the eyelids
- allergy
- damaged cornea due to a speck of dirt or splinter
- If you have a red eye, always contact your GP:
- if your eye hurts
- if you see less clearly than before
- if you are suddenly sensitive to light or if it suddenly hurts to look into light.
- Dutch healthcare practices in general may differ from what you are used to in your home country. Learn more.
What is it
What is a red eye?
The white part of your eye can become red. We call this a red eye.
A red eye can be caused by many different things. The exact symptoms depend on the cause:
- The redness can be in one eye, or in both eyes at the same time.
- It can be faint redness or a bright red patch in the white of the eye.
- You may only have redness of the eye, or you could have other symptoms as well.
What will I notice
What are the symptoms of a red eye?
You can have one or two red eyes, without other symptoms. But you can have other symptoms as well.
Some symptoms could mean that there is a serious problem with your eye. We call these alarming symptoms.
Alarming symptoms are:
- Your eye hurts.
- You see less clearly than before.
- You are suddenly sensitive to light or if it suddenly hurts to look into light.
Other symptoms you could have with a red eye include:
- itching
- dry eyes
- feeling like there is sand in your eye
- a different feeling, like a tired, burning or stinging feeling
- watery eyes
- swollen or red eyelids
- mucus or pus in the eye
- your eyelids are stuck together
- there are crusts between your eyelashes
Causes
What are the causes of a red eye?
A red eye can be caused by many different things.
- Often there is not a serious problem. A red eye is often caused by a mild eye infection, dry eyes or an allergy.
- But there could also be a serious problem, such as an increase in eye pressure. Your eye may be damaged, causing (permanent) poor eyesight.
The causes can be divided into:
- Injuries: something has happened to your eye.
- Other causes, such as infections or inflammation.
Injuries
A red eye from an injury
You could get a red eye because something has happened to your eye:
- You have a speck of dirt or a splinter in your eye (in Dutch). Your eye is watery and can hurt.
- You can have a damaged cornea (in Dutch), for example after getting a fingernail in your eye. Your eye is red, watery and may be painful. You can be sensitive to light.
- You have been hit in the eye (in Dutch). Your eye can be damaged if it is hit, for example by a ball or a fist.
- You have damaged corneas from bright light (in Dutch). This can happen after looking at bright light for too long, for example when welding without safety glasses. Both eyes turn red, be painful, sting or ‘burn’ and you are sensitive to light or it hurts to look into light.
- You have gotten a chemical in your eye (in Dutch). Some chemicals can cause serious eye damage, such as bleach, lime, acids and alkalis (found in dishwasher detergent).
Other causes
A red eye caused by something else
Besides injuries, many other things can cause a red eye.
- A red eye is often caused by a mild eye infection (conjunctivitis) (in Dutch). You can then also have mucus or pus in your eye. It is caused by a virus or bacteria.
- Having dry eyes (in Dutch) can also cause your eyes to turn red.
- Are the edges of your eyelids swollen, red and scaly? And do you have dry, burning, itchy, red and/or irritated eyes? Then the edges of your eyelids could be inflamed or infected (in Dutch).
- If you have a burst blood vessel in the white of the eye (in Dutch), you can suddenly develop a bright red patch in the white of your eye. It does not hurt and is nothing to worry about.
- Do you have itchy, burning, red or watery eyes? And also nose symptoms? Then you could have allergic eye inflammation from something in the air (in Dutch), such as grass pollen or dust mites.
- If you have red, itchy or watery eyes, you could also have eye inflammation due to a contact allergy (in Dutch). You could be allergic to a substance in cosmetics or contact lens solution, for example.
- You can also get red eyes from rubbing them, or from dust or wind.
- An eye infection caused by a herpes virus (in Dutch) usually causes redness in 1 eye. You could also have symptoms such as watery eyes, blisters on the eyelids, pain, sensitivity to light and poorer eyesight.
- You can get an eye infection from a sexually transmitted infection (STI), such as chlamydia or gonorrhoea (in Dutch).
- Episcleritis (in Dutch) is a mild inflammation, often only in 1 eye. The redness is faint with hardly any other symptoms.
- If the pressure in the eyeball suddenly increases (acute glaucoma (in Dutch)), your eye can turn red. You can also have symptoms such as a bad headache, nausea, vomiting and poor eyesight.
- Keratitis is an inflammation of the cornea. You can have alarming symptoms: pain, sensitivity to light and poorer eyesight.
- Uveitis (in Dutch) (inflammation of the iris) and scleritis (inflammation of the white of the eye) are rare.
When to call
When to contact a doctor if you have a red eye?
A red eye can be caused by many different things. For each cause, there is specific advice on when to contact your GP.
If you have a red eye, always contact your GP if you have any of these alarming symptoms:
- Your eye hurts.
- You are suddenly sensitive to light or it suddenly hurts to look into light.
- You see less clearly than before.
More information
More information about red eye
The information about red eye is based on:
- the GPs’ guideline on ‘Red eye and eye trauma’ (Rood oog en oogtrauma).