If you watched the UFC 129 championship fight on April 30th or saw pictures immediately following, you probably wouldn't have suspected any serious problems with Georges St-Pierre's left eye. Fine, it was a little swollen and maybe there was a little blood but honestly, not much more than you might expect after going 5 rounds in an MMA title fight.
But during the fight GSP was poked in the left eye and, as a result, was left almost blind in that eye for the remainder of the fight. After the fight, the champ was taken straight to the hospital to be examined and it was determined that he had suffered a hyphema, which is essentially bleeding inside the front segment of the eyeball. As we know, blood is not clear, so when it starts to fill up behind the cornea (the clear dome at the front of the eye), you can assume it will begin to cloud vision.
For those who have read my blog before, you may remember I spoke a little about hyphemas recently when Vancouver Canucks center Manny Malhotra suffered a serious, season-ending injury after being hit in the eye by the puck.
Hyphemas generally clear up on their own with a little rest as the body resorbs the blood over time (kind of like a bruise). But in some cases they can lead to permanent vision loss and increase the risk for glaucoma. Basically, the blood can stick to the inside of the cornea and leave it looking "dirty", thus resulting in blurry vision. It is also possible for the blood cells to clog up the draining system inside the eye which results in a back up of fluid thus increasing the pressure inside the eye. This increased pressure is what leads to glaucoma.
Fortunately for GSP, there were no other serious problems such as retinal detachments and after a couple of weeks of rest, his vision has returned and he is back in gym training.
As you can imagine, eye injuries are pretty common in a sport where you're constantly dealing with blunt trauma to your face. From a fighter's perspective, it creates a serious challenge. Whether the eye is swollen shut or filled with blood, the fighter loses depth perception and can no longer judge distances well. That makes throwing punches, blocking punches, and attempting takedowns all very difficult.
Related Posts:
Eye on Manny Malhotra
Why Josh Koscheck Lost: An Eye Doctor's Perspective
Mirko Cro Cop Suffers Serious Eye Injury
Hyphemas generally clear up on their own with a little rest as the body resorbs the blood over time (kind of like a bruise). But in some cases they can lead to permanent vision loss and increase the risk for glaucoma. Basically, the blood can stick to the inside of the cornea and leave it looking "dirty", thus resulting in blurry vision. It is also possible for the blood cells to clog up the draining system inside the eye which results in a back up of fluid thus increasing the pressure inside the eye. This increased pressure is what leads to glaucoma.
Fortunately for GSP, there were no other serious problems such as retinal detachments and after a couple of weeks of rest, his vision has returned and he is back in gym training.
As you can imagine, eye injuries are pretty common in a sport where you're constantly dealing with blunt trauma to your face. From a fighter's perspective, it creates a serious challenge. Whether the eye is swollen shut or filled with blood, the fighter loses depth perception and can no longer judge distances well. That makes throwing punches, blocking punches, and attempting takedowns all very difficult.
Luckily GSP was able to overcome all of those difficulties and successfully defend his title.
Eye on Manny Malhotra
Why Josh Koscheck Lost: An Eye Doctor's Perspective
Mirko Cro Cop Suffers Serious Eye Injury
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