From time to time I have heard the expression “crying blood” and I always wondered if someone could actually do that. It turns out that you actually can cry blood! Some doctors have considered haemolacria which is a very rare disorder that cause a person’s tears to contain or be completely made of blood. It can also be caused by various types of injuries, but in many cases it remains a true mystery.

One of the earliest cases of haemolacria was in the 16th century by an Italian physician named Antonio Brassavola who reported a nun who cried bloody tears when she was menstruating. Once again in 1581, a doctor wrote of a teenaged girl in which her flow came through her eyes instead of through the uterus during menstruation. In the results of a 1991 study of 125 participants, menstruation contributed to occult haemolacria. It found that 18% of fertile women had some blood in their tears, while post-menopausal women showed no signs of bloody tears. Therefore, the hormones that are released during menstruation may induce bleeding of the eyes.

Bleeding of the eyes can also be caused by a various number of other things. Injuries can cause the tears to contain blood. It can be a sign of some diseases, tumors, conjuntivitis, tears in the tear duct, or general head injuries. In one case a Canadian man cried bloody tears after he was bitten by a snake. Venom from the snake caused him to cry blood along with painful swelling and kidney failure. Finally, haemolacria can be completely spontaneous as in the case of Calvino Inman. In cases like these and various others, it can be completely random, and doctors do not know the cause of it. The good news is that in most cases haemolacria will disappear, or lessen in intensity, as time goes on.

Twinkle Dwivedi from India reportedly has cried blood up to 14 times a day.

After my research, what I have discovered amazes me! Now I am very curious to see if doctors will ever find the true cause of some of these mysterious cases of crying blood. It a creepy phenomenon and I never thought it to be true, but now I know that it is an actual thing! It crazy and amazing at what the human body can do, and how we continue to find out more about our own bodies day after day. I do not think humans will ever understand the true capabilities, and abnormalities of the human body!