Can I play video games even if I have Hyphema?!
Question:
Can I play video games even if I have Hyphema?
I was just diagnosed with Hyphema which came after I was hit in the eye with a soccer ball. It hurts, but I'd like to play some Xbox. Anyone know if it's ok for me to play video games such as xbox? Thanks.
Answers:
A hyphema is blood in the anterior chamber of the eye. The white part goes all the way around the back. In the front, it changes character, and becomes clear. This clear part, the cornea, forms a small bubble on the surface and is the main refracting surface of the eye itself. The lens is the other part that bends light, or refracts light.
When we look at someone's eyes, we can see the color of their eyes...blue/grey, brown, green..whatever...The space between the cornea and the iris, the colored part is the anterior chamber. It has a fluid in it that's sort of like water...called the aqueous.
When someone is hit in the eye and the blood vessels behind the anterior chamber...either on or in the iris, or at the base or edge of the iris near the white part...that blood goes into the anterior chamber...it's called a hyphema.
It used to be that people that had hyphemas had to stay in the hospital and lay down. Then they started just 'splinting' the muscles and iris by using atropine drops or ointment. One is still supposed to be 'quiet'
If you are upright, and still, or quiet, the red cells will fall and form a layered looking red thing. You'll be able to see over the top of it as it gets smaller. Some people feel that by keeping the iris NOT dilated, there's more surface area for the red cells to be absorbed. Most of them probably just go out of the trabecular meshwork or drain of the eye anyway.
Probably won't make any difference whether or not you play some xbox.
And start wearing safety glasses, the sports ones that have the band around the back...like racketball goggles when you play.