Large red eye veins

[Niteyorkie]

Can dry eye syndrome cause you to have large red eye veins in the white part of your eye? My eye doctor does not think I have ocular rosacea and thinks that my large veins are due to the dry eye. Another eye doc stated that some people just have visible eye veins. The veins don't seem to decrease with an increase in eye drops and did not change with restasis. Some people in this forum state that they have large veins while others state that they have perfect white eyes. What have you seen in your practice?

Thank you so much for your time.

[Robert Latkany MD]

Niteyorkie,

Since some of those are ateries and veins let us call them blood vessels. Everyone has some of these "ciliary" blood vessels close to where your extraocular muscles are. Some are larger than others but basically everyone has roughly the same amount. However, after irritation and chronic inflammation these blood vessels expand become more apparent and form neighboring blood vessels and they cover the entire surface. Typically when you have lots of these blood vessels you either have ocular rosacea or chronic allergies or both. Without ever examining you I cannot say for sure but I am awfully suspicious about these possibilities. Plain old dry eyes usually have white eyes. My practice is probably equally divided.

Dr L