When you’re a teen you often get carried away necking and kissing each other to the point where you’re left with hickeys or bruises on your neck. Recently a teen couple made headlines when a 17-year-old in Mexico City died after suffering a stroke that doctors believe was caused by the hickey his girlfriend gave him.
Julio Macias Gonzalez had convulsions and unfortunately died; doctors suspect that this was caused by the suction from a hickey that led to a blood clot that traveled to his brain, causing him a stroke.
What exactly happens when you get a hickey?
Love bites or hickeys are very common among teens; especially those that want to “mark their territory”. You won’t get a hickey from kissing someone on the neck, but if you focus on one spot for 20 to 30 seconds and suck hard enough, then chances are you’ll be successful at leaving someone a bruise on their neck. The strong suction breaks through the capillaries beneath the skin, which cause the bruising.
Where on the neck this teen got the hickey and how long she applied pressure made the difference between lightly bruising and causing major problems.
Damage to the carotid arteries, which are major blood vessels in the neck that supply blood to the brain, neck and face is where experts thing the damage happened. There are two carotid arteries, one on the right and one on the left of the neck. Each artery has different functions, the internal carotid supplies blood to the brain and the external carotid supplies blood to the face and neck.
This unfortunate situation led to the death of this teen, but at the same time it’s helping spread awareness about how something so innocent could potentially be life-threatening.