Queen Silvia.
Photo: PATRIK C ÖSTERBERG / STELLA PICTURES
Doctor Karin Granberg previously participated in SVT’s “Fråga doktorn”.
Photo: MATILDA SANDBERG / SVT
Queen Silvia on location in Gothenburg earlier this week.
Photo: Adam Ihse/TT
It was during Monday’s state visit from Finland that the Queen was first seen in public with a severely red left eye.
In a text message to Expressen, the court’s information manager Margareta Thorgren gave an explanation for the queen’s red eye.
“The Queen has been exposed to frostbite in the eye. Otherwise, the queen is doing well. Cold draft, draft can be particularly noticeable in colder months when the temperature difference between the outside and the inside is large”wrote Thorgren.
The doctor Karin Granberg, who was previously an expert in SVT’s “Question the Doctor”, explains that there can be various reasons why you suffer from bleeding in the eye. However, she does not think that traits would be a reason.
– Not in my world anyway.
Karin Granberg is careful to point out that she does not want to diagnose Queen Silvia, but says that there are different types of bleeding and what could be behind it.
– It could be a hockey player who got a puck in the eye, then a vessel bursts and you get bleeding that spreads into the eye. But now I’m not talking about Queen Silvia. I have not seen her eye.
Investigates trauma and violence
Karin Granberg explains what a doctor looks at when a patient comes in with “a one-sided red eye”.
– They investigate whether there is any underlying trauma. Has there been violence against the eye that has caused a blood vessel to break? Then you have to check the blood pressure, a vessel can burst if the blood pressure is very high, for example.
After that, you look at the appearance of the eye.
– If it is evenly red, pink and more bloodshot then it could be due to high pressure or inflammation in the eye, for example. If it is bright red, it is a blood vessel that has burst and then the whole eye may be red. Or it can be what we call hyposphagma, then the blood sinks and settles like a red sea in the eye because it has nowhere to go.
“It’s harmless”
Hyposphagma is not serious, according to Karin Granberg.
– Blood vessels can burst, and it is harmless. It just looks very dramatic.
A blood vessel in the eye can also burst “just like that” and for no reason at all, she explains.
– But it must of course be followed up, even if it is not a serious illness.
However, a broken blood vessel in the eye does not mean any major problems for the affected person.
– It looks very serious, but when you have ruled out other things, they get to live a normal life. And if I have understood correctly, the Queen does, and continues to represent.
