( CNN ) -- Calvino Inman had just stepped out of the shower one evening in May when a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror caused him to panic . `` I looked up and saw myself , and I thought I was going to die , '' says the 15-year-old from Rockwood , Tennessee . His eyes were streaming tears of blood . Doctors are still searching for a medical reason for Calvino Inman 's tears of blood . Inman 's mother , Tammy Mynatt , says she immediately rushed him to the emergency room , but by the time they arrived , the bleeding had stopped . Doctors could n't see what the family was trying to explain . They returned home completely perplexed . When the bloody tears returned a few days later while Inman was on a camping trip , he was rushed back to the hospital . Mynatt hoped that once doctors finally witnessed the phenomenon , there would be answers . But that was n't the case . `` The people at the hospital said they had never seen anything like it , '' Mynatt recalls . She says her son underwent an MRI , a CT scan and an ultrasound , but none of the tests had abnormal results . `` 'We do n't know how to stop it , ' '' Mynatt remembers being told by doctors . `` It just has to run its course . '' Dr. Barrett G. Haik , director of the University of Tennessee 's Hamilton Eye Institute , says there is an answer , sort of . He says `` crying blood , '' a condition called haemolacria , is common in people who have experienced extreme trauma or who have recently had a serious head injury . But a case such as Inman 's is still a medical mystery . `` What 's really rare is to have a child like this , '' Haik says . `` Only once every several years do you see someone with no obvious cause . '' Watch more on the teen who cried blood » . Haik and a team of researchers published a 2004 study in the Journal of the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery looking specifically at children who developed unexplained , spontaneous episodes of bloody tears between February 1992 and January 2003 . Only four cases were recorded . Because of the rarity of the condition , experts anticipate Inman will have multiple tests from a variety of specialists , including hematologists ( blood specialists ) , ophthalmologists ( eye specialists ) and otolaryngologists ( ear , nose and throat specialists ) . Dr. James C. Flemming , also an ophthalmologist at the Hamilton Eye Institute , has been in touch with Mynatt and her son . He is reviewing Inman 's medical records for possible treatment . Flemming says complications to look for include blood clots , a growth or tumor near the eye , or even a simple infection . He also says the culprit could be something so tiny that none of the standard tests would pick it up . `` It 's a very hard thing to estimate , '' Flemming says . `` You may have to watch expectedly for other symptoms to show up . '' Inman 's analysis would also include a psychological evaluation to rule out the possibility that the bloody tears were faked . `` When you ca n't find an origin , you ca n't eliminate any of the possibilities '' Haik explains . He says there have been cases where children seeking attention have found creative ways to simulate haemolacriatic symptoms . Still , Mynatt and her son are relieved to at least have more guidance . In an interview with CNN affiliate WATE , Mynatt was near tears herself explaining her frustration : `` I just truly want somebody to say they 've seen this and they can help us . '' And that 's at least one reassurance Flemming and his team of experts at the Hamilton Eye Institute can offer . `` We get more positive talk now than negative . It really feels like there 's hope , '' Mynatt says , relieved . But still , the possibility remains that after endless tests , the underlying cause may never be found . In all four cases Haik examined previously , the bleeding stopped on its own . `` As physicians , that 's disconcerting , because we like to have the answers , '' Haik admits . Moreover , he says he knows from previous experience that the toll of not knowing is much worse for patients . `` I could always see the fear in their faces because no matter what we studied , we could n't find an answer . ''
Tennessee teen started crying blood tears in May . He suffers from a rare condition known as haemolacria , which means `` bloody tears '' In four other cases , bleeding stopped spontaneously with no cause found .