5-Minute Emergency Consult
Vitreous Hemorrhage
Basics
Description
Vitreous hemorrhage is a secondary diagnosis; identification of a specific cause is necessary for successful treatment:Description
- Retinal vessel tear due to vitreous separation
- Sudden tearing of vessels due to trauma
- Spontaneous bleeding due to neovascularization (e.g., diabetics)
Etiology
Etiology
- Blunt or penetrating trauma
- Retinal break/tear/detachment
- Any proliferative retinopathy
- Diabetes mellitus
- Sickle cell disease
- Retinal vein occlusion
- Eales disease
- Age-related macular degeneration
- Retinal angiomatosis
- Retinal telangiectasia
- Peripheral uveitis
- Subarachnoid or subdural hemorrhage:
- Terson syndrome
- Intraocular tumor
Pediatric Considerations
- Retinopathy of prematurity
- Congenital retinoschisis
- Pars planitis
- Child abuse:
- Shaken-baby syndrome
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Citation
Schaider, Jeffrey J., et al., editors. "Vitreous Hemorrhage." 5-Minute Emergency Consult, 6th ed., Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2020. Emergency Central, emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/5-Minute_Emergency_Consult/307501/all/Vitreous_Hemorrhage.
Vitreous Hemorrhage. In: Schaider JJJ, Barkin RMR, Hayden SRS, et al, eds. 5-Minute Emergency Consult. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2020. https://emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/5-Minute_Emergency_Consult/307501/all/Vitreous_Hemorrhage. Accessed May 12, 2025.
Vitreous Hemorrhage. (2020). In Schaider, J. J., Barkin, R. M., Hayden, S. R., Wolfe, R. E., Barkin, A. Z., Shayne, P., & Rosen, P. (Eds.), 5-Minute Emergency Consult (6th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. https://emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/5-Minute_Emergency_Consult/307501/all/Vitreous_Hemorrhage
Vitreous Hemorrhage [Internet]. In: Schaider JJJ, Barkin RMR, Hayden SRS, Wolfe RER, Barkin AZA, Shayne PP, Rosen PP, editors. 5-Minute Emergency Consult. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2020. [cited 2025 May 12]. Available from: https://emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/5-Minute_Emergency_Consult/307501/all/Vitreous_Hemorrhage.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
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T1 - Vitreous Hemorrhage
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ED - Barkin,Adam Z,
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ED - Rosen,Peter,
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ED - Hayden,Stephen R,
ED - Wolfe,Richard E,
BT - 5-Minute Emergency Consult
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PB - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
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DB - Emergency Central
DP - Unbound Medicine
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