Epidemiology and symptoms of red eyes in patients from Northern Iran.

Aim: We aimed to determine the epidemiology and symptoms of red eyes in patients from Northern Iran. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was planned involving 840 patients referred to the eye clinic of Bu-Ali Sina hospital in Sari, Iran, with the chief complaint of eye redness. Results: Of 840 patients, 525 were men (62.5%) and 315 were women (37.5%). Most of the patients were over 39 years of age. 55.7 percentage of them lived in cities and 44% were from villages. The most common eye symptoms with eye redness were: Eye abrasion (57%), tears in eyes (49%) and swollen eye lid (30%). Red eyes without any symptoms in eyes were diagnosed as runny nose (4.2%) and headaches (3.4%). 11.9% and 19.6% of the patients had a previous history of red eye and had visited doctors for red eyes respectively. Conclusions: Red eyes are more common in men than women. Introducing dangerous causes of red eyes in the future can help to health care professional to on time diagnosis of red eyes related problems.