St. Pierre Recovering from Hyphema after UFC 129

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UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre has taken to Twitter to reassure fans that the eye injury he suffered in his UFC 129 title defense is not a serious as first feared.

“I am so lucky my BJJ instructor Bruno Fernandes is an ophthalmologist. I’ll be in good hands,” wrote St. Pierre. “My medical condition is called hyphema. My vision is still blurry and my eye sensitive but the blood in my eye has now been absorbed. My retina is fine as well, and my vision will come back to 100 percent. [I could not] be more happy.”

Hyphema, often caused by blunt trauma, is a condition marked by blood pooling in the front chamber of the eye. It may be visible as a reddish tinge, or the blood may settle at the bottom of the iris.

Treatment of the condition consists of simply resting the eye or even wearing an eye patch to avoid causing a re-bleed. Those affected may also sleep at a 45-degree angle to assist in the blood settling away from the line of vision. Pain medications such as ibuprofen and aspirin, which thin the blood, are also to be avoided. In severe cases, surgery may be required to clear the blood from the eye’s anterior chamber, though that does not appear to be an issue for St. Pierre.

UFC 129, which went down April 30 from the Rogers Centre in Toronto, was headlined by St. Pierre’s welterweight title defense against Jake Shields. The champion reportedly suffered a serious but unintentional poke to his left eye in the second round of the fight and could not see out of that lamp for the remainder of the contest. Even with the injury to his eye, GSP remained in control of the contest, using his jab to turn away a game Shields and retain his title.