A man was left horrified when he started spontaneously crying bloody tears.
The 52-year-old went to A&E where he told doctors it had never happened before - and he hadn't suffered any trauma to the area.
He explained that the bleeding happened two hours earlier and had lasted a few minutes, but then it started again just before the examination.
His vision had also been completely fine, and his blood pressure was normal too, according to an article published by the New England Medical Journal.
Doctors carried out a slit-lamp examination and discovered he had a growth of small tangled blood vessels in the insides of both of his eyelids.
Rare condition
They diagnosed the man, believed to be from Italy, as suffering from a rare condition known as hemolacria.
Also known as "bloody tears", it's usually a symptom of another condition such as infection, inflammation or trauma to the eye or surrounding structures.
But it could also be a sign of eye tumours, blood disorders, or in some cases, menstruation.
For some there is no identifiable medical explanation, and as a result it may be deemed a spontaneous symptom that usually resolves in time, according to Healthline.
In this case, the man's bloody tears stopped without treatment around an hour after he arrived at the hospital.
He was given eye drops to treat the eyelid haemangiomas and at a follow-up appointment a year later, he told doctors he had no further episodes of bloody tears.
Although the condition is harmless in most cases, anyone who experiences blood in their tears is recommended to see a doctor.
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