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Recently, Priya Dias (14), a girl from Calcutta, India, reported bleeding from her eyes, as if she was crying blood.
A number of cases of "crying for blood" have also been recorded in several parts of the world, including in Indonesia, although medically, this phenomenon is classified as a very rare condition.
Crying blood associated with menstruation
Crying for blood, or haemoclaria, is a medical condition that can cause a person to shed blood tears. The tears that are shed vary, ranging from blood-red teardrops to the thick blood that flows from the inside of the eye. The exact cause and treatment of this condition is still uncertain, but it is known to have some association with the signs and symptoms of blood diseases or tumors.
One of the first cases of haemolacria on record in medical records was around the 16th century, when an Italian nun complained of bleeding through both eyes while she was menstruating. Then, in 1581, a doctor found a young girl who complained of crying blood, even when she was menstruating.
Modern science is now discovering why. According to a 1991 study, occult haemoclaria can be caused by menstruation. Eighteen percent of the fertile women studied were found to have blood in their tear glands, while the probability of crying blood was found only in 7% in pregnant women, 8% in men, and none at all in postmenopausal women. Scientists concluded that occult haemoclaria is caused by changes in the body's hormones, whereas other types of haemoclaria can be caused by other external factors.
When someone cries blood, the doctor will look for signs and symptoms of a tumor, conjunctivitis, or a tear in the eye or tear gland as possible haemolacria.
Crying blood is harmless
Dr. Barrett G. Haik, director of the Hamilton Tennessee University Eye Institute in Memphis, wrote a medical review that was published in the journal Ophthalmic Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery in some cases of spontaneous "crying blood". The authors conclude that bleeding tears are an uncommon clinical event, but that they will eventually go away on their own. Haik determined that during 1992-2003, there were only four cases of spontaneous haemolacria without a definite cause, and that there were two cases with known causes at that time, which were related to Munchausen's syndrome and blood clotting disease.
However, this condition is not a life-threatening medical condition. Haik's colleague, James Fleming, said that as you grow, haemolacria can go away on its own. The frequency (and volume) of bleeding will decrease, subside, and stop completely with age. “In all the patients, the blood crying eventually subsided without any further periods. No cases of recurrence were reported during the period follow-up from the first 9 months to 11 years later, "said Haik and Fleming.
In Priya Dias' case, the doctor found the cause of the blood crying condition he was having, namely psychogenic purpura.
Also known as Gardner-Diamond syndrome or autoerythrocyte sensitization, or painful bruising syndrome. This disease is rare and poorly understood. It can be caused by excessive stress and anxiety, ”said Pradip Saha, head of the Institute of Psychiatry, Calcutta, who handled the Dias case.
Saha further said that a common case of crying blood can occur in people who have or have recently experienced extreme head trauma. Still, according to this neuropsychiatrist, the chances of developing a blood cry is only one case in a few years.
