Bloody Tears Research Articles

Bleeding from the conjunctiva.

The discovery of frank bleeding from the conjunctiva, apart from injury, is a relatively rare condition, but it is not infrequent to find a sanguinous discharge in cases of severe inflammation of the conjunctiva. The various causes of bleeding from the conjunctiva are vicarious menstruation, haemophilia, anaemia, jaundice, vascular tumours, bleeding from the lacrimal gland, regurgitation of blood from the nose through the lacrimal passages, and hysteria. Spontaneous bleeding from the conjunctiva occurs in cases of vicarious menstruation, the weeping of bloody tears (lacrimae cruentae, dacryohaemuhysis: Duke-Elder, I965); this is mainly of historical interest, extragenital haemorrhages taking place at periodic intervals corresponding to the menstrual cycle (Novak and Jones, I96 i). Vicarious menstruation from the eyes was recorded very early by Dodonaeus (I58i) and Kersten (i841). Cases in which recurrent ocular haemorrhages can be correlated with menstrual somatic readjustment have been reported by Jungken (i842), Mackenzie (I854), Pascal (i888), Greig and Kynoch (I9I2), Gabrielid's (1923), Greig (I932), Poos (I933), Francois (I934), Dejean (I934), Toth (I944), and Polychronakos and Leanis (1956). Haemophilia has been described by various authors, where bleeding from the eyes was initiated by a slight trauma, and was even fatal (Schmidt-Rimpler, I887). Death from haemorrhage also followed the application of silver nitrate to the conjunctiva in the newborn (Miller, I893; Abbe, I899; Hansell, I900; Wiener, I903; Heal, 1928). Other cases of alarming conjunctival bleeding were recorded in anaemic patients by Fischer (I 832) and Cross (i 89 I) and in a jaundiced patient by Havers (1964) . The presence of vascular tumours in the conjunctiva has been found to be a cause of conjunctival haemorrhage. Jessop (I895) recorded a patient in a state of collapse due to haemorrhage from an ulcerated angioma in the upper lid. Other cases have been reported by Mathieu (I894), de Micas (I908), Wallis (I9I6), James and Trevor (I9I8), Maxted (I 9 I 9), White (I 945), Bakker (I 948), Ash (I 950), and Nirankari and Singh (i 96 I). Conjunctival haemorrhage may arise in certain cases from the lacrimal gland (Lindemann, I 920), and from regurgitation of blood from the nose, through the lacrimal passages, issuing usually through the inferior punctum (Duke-Elder, 1965). It has been noted in epistaxis, either spontaneously (Jongkees, 194 I), after nasal tamponage (Konikow, 19 I 6; Messner, 1947), or after a nasal fracture (Valiere-Valeix, I939; Urbantschitsch, 1946). The condition has also been seen in cases of hysteria (Huss, I857; Damalix, I882; Hynek, 1932,) and after gross disturbances of the autonomic nervous system (Bolotte and Fribourg-Blanc, I 93 I) . Conjunctival haemorrhage may also occur in healthy persons, with little or no cause apart from stooping (Perlia, i 888; Cross, I89I ) or muscular effort (Denti, I883); Minchin (I935) reported it in a child after copious weeping.

The First Bloody Tears

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article ArticleNo AccessThe First Bloody TearsHARRY A. WILMERHARRY A. WILMERSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Apr 2006https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.123.6.747-aAboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail "The First Bloody Tears." American Journal of Psychiatry, 123(6), pp. 747-a–748 Access content To read the fulltext, please use one of the options below to sign in or purchase access. Personal login Institutional Login Sign in via OpenAthens Purchase Save for later Item saved, go to cart PPV Articles - American Journal of Psychiatry $35.00 Add to cart PPV Articles - American Journal of Psychiatry Checkout Please login/register if you wish to pair your device and check access availability. Not a subscriber? Subscribe Now / Learn More PsychiatryOnline subscription options offer access to the DSM-5 library, books, journals, CME, and patient resources. This all-in-one virtual library provides psychiatrists and mental health professionals with key resources for diagnosis, treatment, research, and professional development. Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.). FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byNone Volume 123Issue 6 December 1966Pages 747-a-748 Metrics PDF download History Published online 1 April 2006 Published in print 1 December 1966

Cholinergic Porphyrin Lacrymation and Paradoxical Mydriasis in the Rat. Possible Hame Nature of Choline Esterase.

Waddell1 first reported the pilocarpine mydriasis in the rat and attributed it to peripheral parasympathetic depression. Koppanyi and Sun2 ascribed the paradoxical response to a ganglion paralysant action. Barnard, Tyllas and Mizock3 could not relate the anomalous pilocarpine response to corneal anesthesia but they noticed and failed to report that acetylcholine gave the same response. Both pilocarpine and acetylcholine would provoke the secretion of “bloody tears” in a certain number of rats, particularly younger ones. Cytologic examination of the tears failed to show erythrocytes and sections of the harderian gland excised at the height of the response showed neither the expected hyperemia nor rhexis. Repeated pilocarpine administrations over a period of weeks appeared to exhaust the mechanism and this was attributed to a traumatic fibrosis but here again histologic examination of the gland failed to bear out the assumption.The discovery of the fluorescence of this structure4 and of the porphyrin nature...

Is Chromodacryorrhea a Diapedesis of the Red Corpuscles?

ConclusionThese facts definitely prove in our minds that the bloody tears contain no erythrocytes, and the red pigment in chromo-dacryorrhesis is not hemoglobin. The minute pink corpuscular bodies are in reality colorless fatty globules, tinged red by the pigment that surrounds them. In other words, chromodacryorrhesis is not a dia-pedesis of erythrocytes, and the tears do not even contain hemoglobin. It is really a most surprising fact for those who are familiar with the phenomenon of chromodacryorrhea that such obviously bloody fluid coming out of mammalian tissue does not contain any blood.On the other hand, these findings now seem to help explain many puzzling facts. One of us (with Stix)1 found that dacryorrhetin causes bloody tear production only in rats (with occasional exceptions with mice), milky tears in guinea pigs, rabbits and mice, and clear tears in cats and dogs. Just why rats alone should shed bloody tears has been one of the perplexing problems. On the basis of the above findings, we can ...

Chromodacryorrhea, a New Criterion for Biological Assay of Acetylcholine

Summary1. By using chromodacryorrhea, the phenomenon of the shedding of bloody tears by rats, as a criterion, acetylcholine can be detected in as small amount as 0.2 γ. 2. Since there are 4 ranges of minimal dosages detectable with this phenomenon, from 2 mg to 0.2 γ, depending on the mode of injection and treatment, this same criterion can be used for a wide range of concentration of acetylcholine with accuracy.

NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MEDICINE, SECTION OF NEUROLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY

ed by Walter Freeman, M.D., Washington, D. C. Bloody Tears and Epilepsy. Pierre Behague. A cavalry officer suffered an injury to the head, after which he had severe headache ; later epileptiform seizures appeared, and the patient did not regain consciousness until there had been a caruncular hemorrhage, of about a thimbleful of blood, lasting three or four minutes and spattering over the patient's face. There was no doubt as to the nature of the fluid : Red blood cells could be seen under the microscope, and a Wassermann test was made. The cerebrospinal fluid was normal and did not contain blood. Neurologic examination gave negative results except for tremor of the hands. Behague stated that subconjunctival hemorrhages are not uncommon in cases of epilepsy and raised the question whether bleeding from the caruncle might be related to subconjunctival hemorrhages. Fribourg-Blanc stated that the two phe¬ nomena proceed from the same mechanism. Postrotatory Thrust of the Body and Counter-Rotation of the Eyes. J. A. Barre. In several cases of otitis media in which there had been extensive destruction and degeneration in the middle ear, the inner ear was also affected, and normal Downloaded From: http://archneurpsyc.jamanetwork.com/ by a Microsoft Bing User on 03/28/2016

BLINDNESS IN WHOOPING COUGH

Loss of sight in a child always attracts attention. This is especially true when the blindness occurs during the course of, or subsequent to, an infectious disease. Likewise, in these cases serious ocular manifestations are much more common in childhood. In whooping cough, a wide variety of conditions present themselves, ranging from subconjunctival hemorrhage, ecchymosis of the eyelid and bleeding from the surface of the conjunctiva, producing the so-called bloody tears, 1 to such serious manifestations as exophthalmos from retrobulbar hemorrhage, 2 bleeding into the anterior chamber, 3 circulatory disturbances and detachment of the retina 4 and embolism of both central arteries. 5 Functional disturbances without ophthalmoscopic findings, such as total blindness, hemianopia and mind blindness associated with involvement of the cranial nerves, have also been reported. 6 Amaurosis caused by whooping cough is not only exceedingly rare, but usually transitory in nature. Such thorough observers as Henoch 7 and

NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MEDICINE, SECTION OF NEUROLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY

ed by Walter Freeman, M.D., Washington, D. C. Bloody Tears and Epilepsy. Pierre Behague. A cavalry officer suffered an injury to the head, after which he had severe headache ; later epileptiform seizures appeared, and the patient did not regain consciousness until there had been a caruncular hemorrhage, of about a thimbleful of blood, lasting three or four minutes and spattering over the patient's face. There was no doubt as to the nature of the fluid : Red blood cells could be seen under the microscope, and a Wassermann test was made. The cerebrospinal fluid was normal and did not contain blood. Neurologic examination gave negative results except for tremor of the hands. Behague stated that subconjunctival hemorrhages are not uncommon in cases of epilepsy and raised the question whether bleeding from the caruncle might be related to subconjunctival hemorrhages. Fribourg-Blanc stated that the two phe¬ nomena proceed from the same mechanism. Postrotatory Thrust of the Body and Counter-Rotation of the Eyes. J. A. Barre. In several cases of otitis media in which there had been extensive destruction and degeneration in the middle ear, the inner ear was also affected, and normal Downloaded From: http://archneurpsyc.jamanetwork.com/ by a Microsoft Bing User on 03/28/2016

SANGUINEOUS LACRIMATION

Sanguineous lacrimation, or hemorrhage from the lacrimal gland, though rare, is not unknown. A review of the literature shows that the terms sanguineous lacrimation and bloody tears are frequently used synonymously, which is a mistake. Sanguineous lacrimation may produce blood tears, but not all cases of bloody tears are necessarily sanguineous lacrimation. The phenomenon has been known from antiquity, is most frequently found in young females and is not hereditary. A brief review of the cases found on record after a careful search of the literature follows: In 1581, Dodonaeus 1 briefly records his observations on a girl who, at the age of 16, had not menstruated; nature therefore attempted to rid itself of the excess blood through the eyes, since sanguineous drops which resembled tears frequently flowed from them. Raigerus, 2 in 1755, reported the case of a boy, aged 15 months, who shed bloody tears on several occasions