A 17 year old boy has died after getting a hickey.

A 17 year-old boy has died from a stroke doctors believe were caused by a hickey.

Julio Macias Gonzalez spent the evening with his 24-year-old girlfriend before returning home.

Mexican media reports that the teenager had convulsions while eating dinner with his family in Mexico city. Paramedics were called to the scene, but Gonzalez could not be saved.

According to local media, doctors believe the suction of the hickey created a blood clot which then travelled to his brain and caused the stroke.

Image: iStock

The Independent reports Gonzalez's parents blame his girlfriend for his death, who is thought to have gone into hiding.

His family told media they "disapproved" of the age gap between the couple but their son had refused to end the relationship.

Heartbreakingly, it's not the first time a hickey has caused a medical emergency.

Last year the New Zealand Medical Journal reported the 2010 case of a 44 year-old Maori woman who had a non-fatal stroke after a love bite caused a blood clot that travelled to her heart.

Watch: Sleep deprivation has been found to be another potential cause of stroke. Here's why you need your sleep. Post continues after video.

At the time, researchers called the medical condition "a rare phenomenon."

So is the health risk so dangerous that you should swear off the practice of hickey-giving all together?

According to Robert Glatter, an emergency room physician at a New York hospital, it would have to be "the mother of all hickeys".

"It’s possible this could happen, but it's very rare, and parents should be reassured it’s not something that happens in a routine way," he told USA Today.

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However people who have existing connective tissue disorders could be more susceptible.

"Any sudden motion of the neck including a vigorous cough or sneezing, or even aggressive manipulation by a chiropractor could lead to a carotid artery dissection," he said.

"This is essentially how a hickey could lead to a stroke."

Image: iStock.