The red eye.

A red eye is the most common ocular disorder that primary care physicians encounter. Most cases are relatively benign. Some, however, herald a vision-threatening or even life-threatening disorder. A detailed description of the full differential diagnosis of a red eye is available elsewhere.1 This overview does not assume that the examiner has access to a slit lamp or has been trained to use it. Subconjunctival Hemorrhage A subconjunctival hemorrhage (Figure 1) is often the cause of acute ocular redness. The diagnosis is based on simple observation of the characteristic features of such a hemorrhage: the redness, which is unilateral, is . . .