A Freaky (but Unimportant) Blood Smear Finding

Have you ever seen one of these in a blood smear?

Looks freaky doesn't it?

This is a hemoglobin crystal, and it's actually not important at all! This is just an artifact where the hemoglobin crystalizes inside the RBC and forms this weird elongated (or sometimes brick-like) shape.

So, next time you see it, you can go ahead and tell it how cute it is and then move on with the rest of your blood smear review. 😎