OCULAR VICARIOUS MENSTRUATION
In a rare medical case that has baffled doctors, a woman complained that she has been bleeding from her eyes. Yes, sounds nightmarish, but it's true. The 25-year-old married woman recently went to the emergency room at a hospital in Chandigarh after she experienced crying tears of blood. Interestingly, she wasn't in any pain or discomfort and told doctors that she experienced the same thing a month as well. She even underwent a vast array of tests to ascertain the root cause of her bleeding eyes, but all reports came normal. Neither were there any injuries to the eyes, nor she didn't have a family history of an ocular bleeding condition or any past issues with her eyes. So, what was really causing it? As the doctors examined the case further, they sensed a certain pattern. The doctors ultimately realised that both the times the woman cried tears of blood, she was on her periods. After ruling out all other probable causes, doctors diagnosed her with ocular vicarious menstruation What is ocular vicarious menstruation? An extremely rare condition, ocular vicarious menstruation is defined as "cyclical bleeding in extrauterine organs during menstruation,'' according to Medizzy. Bleeding can also occur from the lips, eyes, lungs, and stomach and most commonly nose. After the woman was diagnosed with it, her case was highlighted in the British Medical Journal, wherein authors have explained how hormonal changes during menstruation affect 'vascular permeability' in these organs, resulting in the bleeding. ''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 notes. Treatment The woman patient was treated with oral contraceptives containing a combination of estrogen and progesterone. After a three-month followup, the patient said she didn't have any other episodes of bloody tears.
