Doctors are investigating the strange case case of a woman who cries ‘crystal tears.’
Satenik Kazaryan, 22, from Spandaryan village in Armenia, weeps up to 50 jagged-edged tears each day – and she says her condition is agony and has made her life ‘hell.’
‘I was at the dentist, and it seemed dust got into my eyes,’ she said.
‘It hurt me. I went to the ophthalmologist, and a few crystals were taken out from my eyes.
‘Now my every day has turned into hell.’
Doctors are unable to figure out why Satenik Kazaryan, 22, from Spandaryan village in Armenia, cries 50 pointed tears every day. The condition is ‘agony’ and has ‘made her life hell’
Though medication helped Satenik at first, the condition soon worsened with tears starting to fall more rapidly. The doctors have not ‘encountered such a disease before’
Some of the doctors believe it could be an increase in salt density but are unable to make a definite diagnosis for Satenik
At first medication seemed to help but now the crystal tears are coming more frequently as shown on a video from Mir24.tv
‘All the doctors are in shock,’ she said.
‘They have not encountered such a disease and do not know how to treat it.
‘They have not even diagnosed it.’
Her relative Svetlana Avagyan said: ‘When we removed the first crystal, we thought glass got into her eye during work on our farm.
‘But the pain did not stop and we kept getting more crystals from her eyes.
‘So we took her to the doctor.
‘At first they did not believe us…. no-one here has seen anything like this before.’
Satenik’s relative can be seen drawing one of the crystal tears from her eye using a cotton bud. Svetlana Avagyan said that she thought it was glass when they took the first one out
She has collected some of the tears in a box, as pictured above, where their jaggedness is apparent. The tears have been sent away for analysis but there have been no results back yet
One of her relatives, Svetlana Avagyan (pictured left), said that at first they thought the tears were a piece of glass. According to doctors, if the salt concentration increases in the tears, this ‘can cause the acceleration of crystallisation’
One medic even told her to leave, believing she was faking her condition – but now it is accepted the crystal tears are natural, said her mother-in-law Zemfira Mikaelyan.
Specialists have sent the crystals for analysis but so far there is no diagnosis.
One idea was to send her abroad for diagnosis and treatment but reports say Satenik’s family are poor and work as peasant farmers.
Satenik’s mother-in-law, Zemfira Mikaelyan, said that medics thought she may be faking the condition but they now realise the tears are real
A mother of one, she married at the age of 15.
Armenian deputy health minister Oganes Arutyunyan said the woman’s case is being studied.
‘We plan one more meeting with Satenik, aiming to gather more information, and then we will try to figure out what is going on with the patient,’ she said.
Russian ophthalmologist Tatyana Shilova told REN TV channel that the condition is very unusual but not unique.
‘Such a pathology rarely happens, so doctors may have difficulty identifying the causes,’ she said.
In certain situations – genetic or inflammatory diseases of the eye, but also of the body as a whole – changes in the composition (of tears) can occur.
‘In a tear there are proteins, fats, micro-elements, it has a certain ionic composition.’
Satenik is from a poor village in Armenia and is the mother of a single child after marrying at the age of 15. There was an idea to send her abroad for treatment but her family are poor peasant farmers who would be unable to afford the expense
If the salt concentration increases, this ‘can cause the acceleration of crystallisation,’ she said.
‘Proteins in tears can also increase its density.’
She warned that the crystal tears may be a sign of other problems.
‘Crystals appear not only from the side of the mucous membrane of the eye – they can form in the liver, kidneys, and settle in the form of salts in organs.
‘This is dangerous and requires investigation,’ she added.