Chandigarh woman cries tears of blood during menstruation due to rare condition

A 25-year-old woman from Chandigarh complained of 'bloody tears' and the doctors later diagnosed her with ocular vicarious menstruation. After going through various tests including opthalmological and radiological, the reports still came normal.

It was later realized that both the times when she cried tears of blood, the woman was on her periods. This Chandigarh woman's case was later published in the British Medical Journal where the abstract said, "Bloody tears or haemolacria is a rare clinical entity. It is caused by various ocular and systemic conditions. Haemolacria due to vicarious menstruation is even rarer."

Vicarious menstruation,
Bleeding in other organs besides uterus during periods.

“A girl from Chandigarh cried tears of blood” , was treated w OCPs later.#MedTwitter #medicineeveryday #menses

— Rajsi Solanki (@rajsiee) March 18, 2021

The woman, who is reported to be married, experienced no pain or discomfort. According to Medizzy, this condition is defined as "cyclical bleeding in extrauterine organs during menstruation" and can occur from any body part like lips, lungs, stomach or nose.

What is ocular vicarious menstruation? & Treatment

”Vicarious menstruation is considered to be due to response of vasculature to the hormones in the presence or absence of endometrial tissue at extrauterine sites, although its exact pathophysiology is not very clear. Oestrogen and progesterone can increase permeability of capillaries resulting in hyperaemia, congestion and secondary bleeding from extrauterine tissue,” the study read in the British Medical Journal.

"A diagnosis of ocular vicarious menstruation was made and she was treated with oral contraceptive pills. No such episode recurred during 3 months follow-up period," read the abstract in the case report.