A WOMAN who “cried crystal tears” making her life “hell” is now suspected by doctors of faking her condition.
Satenik Kazaryan, 22, from Spandaryan village in Armenia, received worldwide attention for “weeping” up to 50 jagged-edged tears each day – and she says it is agony.
Her condition initially astonished doctors but it was believed she had a rare medical condition.
Detailed analysis is still underway but now the mother-of-one is strongly suspected of putting glass particles in her own eyes, according to new reports.
While there is a rare medical condition that could lead to so-called ‘crystal tears’, experts think Satenik is suffering from Munchausen syndrome, a type of mental disorder which leads people to fake illness and self-harm, often as a means of gaining attention.
Satenik and her mother-in-law Zemfira Mikaelyan insist the ‘glass tears’ are natural.
But Professor Anna Hovakimyan, of the Armenian Republican Ophthalmological Centre, said: “The crystals look like ordinary glass.
“I am almost 100 per cent sure that the patient suffers from Munchausen syndrome.”
While there is a genetic condition called Cystinosis, leading Moscow eye specialist Professor Dmitry Maichuk said: “In theory the formation of such a crystals is possible, but they should be smaller, and injure the eye.”
I am almost 100 per cent sure that the patient suffers from Munchausen syndrome
Prof Anna Hovakimyan
If big crystals were to form naturally, it would take several months not a matter of hours as she claims, he said.
A team from Russian television station NTV took some of Satenik’s crystals to gemologist Olga Radionova who said the examples were “simple glass”.
The TV crew went to the remote village where Satenik lives and they were told that the crystals were first seen after her son Vanik, five, broke a glass vase.
A piece got into her eye, it was claimed.
Later more glass appeared which her mother in law kept removing.
The woman had earlier claimed that the crystals stated appearing after a visit to the dentist.
Cystinosis is a metabolic condition caused by gene mutations but it can be treated with medication.
However such treatment has not worked on Satenik.
She claimed her condition worsened when she took medication.
Armenian deputy health minister Oganes Arutyunyan said the woman’s case was being studied “to figure out what is going on with the patient”.
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