Mother's Intuition

So I was staring at my baby's big blue eyes tonight as I read this story. Yes, they are the same color. Whew! I know people who have eyes who are two different colors. I assumed it was benign and kind of "cool." According to this story, the color change can be caused by cancer. Thankfully, the mother in this story caught the disease early and her baby daughter is expected to survive.

FROM ABC NEWS: When 32-year-old Megan Santos of Riverview, Fla., noticed that one of her baby daughter's eyes was a slightly different color than the other, her intuition told her that something was wrong.

Concerned, Santos posted a picture of 1-year-old Rowan Santos on the online pregnancy community BabyFit.com, of which she is a member. The picture clearly showed a hazy, white glow in Rowan's left eye -- an atypical reflection of the camera flash not seen in the infant's other eye.

She soon received a message from Madeleine Robb, another 32-year-old mother living in Stretford, the United Kingdom, encouraging her to ask her doctor about a rare but serious cancer that can bring about such a color difference. Santos followed Robb's advice. And as it turned out, Santos' post may have well saved her child's life.

"After I put the picture up, she saw it, and she sent me a private e-mail in which she said that Rowan might have retinoblastoma in her left eye," Santos said. "She said, 'Not to worry you, but I think you should look at this Web site.'"

The Web site detailed the condition known as retinoblastoma -- a potentially deadly form of childhood cancer that can affect one or both eyes. Immediately, Santos contacted her doctor. She saw him the next day, on the morning of Aug. 8, and he, in turn, referred her to ophthalmology and cancer specialists.

A battery of scans and other tests revealed that Rowan did, in fact, have a cancerous tumor growing on the retina of her left eye."Her prognosis is good, as far as the doctor can tell," Santos said. "[The cancer] had not yet reached her optic nerve, which would have then brought it directly to her brain."

But with the favorable prognosis for survival came devastating news."She is going to lose her eye," Santos said. "That's a definite." Doctors plan to treat the tumor by burning away the cancerous tissue with a laser. Rowan will undergo four rounds of chemotherapy, followed by surgery to remove her eye and the tumor, and then three more rounds of chemotherapy. The surgery to remove Rowan's left eye will be in November or December.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Are you having an Acne Emergency? Call Soderstrom Skin Institute at 674 – SKIN… we treat acne seriously. With over 35 years of experience, Soderstrom Skin Institute will provide a personalized program to help you get your acne under control. Untreated acne can result in permanent scarring. Don’t suffer any longer! Evening and weekend appointment are available and in most cases you’ll be seen within one week.

Lazy Eye in Kids

What do you picture when someone says they have a lazy eye?
If you're like most people, you think of one eye that wanders or droops. I found out today that is not necessarily true.

Lazy eye or amblyopia is a loss of vision or lack of development of central vision in one eye caused by inadequate use during early childhood. You do not necessarily have an eye that wanders when you have a lazy eye. A wandering eye is called strabismus. Some people have strabismus and amblyopia. According to the Vision Learning Center, about 2-3% of the population has amblyopia.

It is very important to get a lazy eye treated early on. That's why Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky have made it a law for every child in public school to have a complete eye exam within a year before kindergarten. The exam is intended to catch all vision problems, but lazy eye is the most common.

Peoria, IL Opthalmologist Dr. Steve Lichtenstein says he diagnoses lazy eye in 4 to 5 out of every 100 kids he examines. The kids don't realize the extent of their vision problems because they have never had 20/20 vision. He says his daughter had amblyopia and she could pick up the tiniest little object with no problem because her other eye or "good" eye was doing all the work.

Dr. Lichtenstein says if kids with vision problems like lazy eye are treated early on, the problem can be corrected. However, by age 10, it is too late. He explains the process like slow drying concrete. Once we reach 10 years old, the concrete is completely dry. If we catch the "concrete" at age three, it is much softer and easier to shape the way we want it.

There are often no symptoms of lazy eye, but here's the general list for the kids who do show signs:

• Noticeably favoring one eye


• Eye turning in, out or up


• Closing of one eye


• Squint


• Headaches or eyestrain
  

How is amblyopia treated?

• Surgery may be performed on the eye muscles to straighten the eyes if non-surgical means are unsuccessful.


• Eye exercises may be recommended either before or after surgery to correct faulty visual habits associated with strabismus and to teach comfortable use of the eyes.


• Patching or covering one eye may be required for a period of time ranging from a few weeks to as long as a year. The better-seeing eye is patched, forcing the "lazy" one to work, thereby strengthening its vision.


• Medication—in the form of eye drops or ointment—may be used to blur the vision of the good eye in order to force the weaker one to work.

I had a patch on my eye when I was young. One of my eyes veered inward. I realized today I had amblyopia AND strabismus. Interesting. The patches I had looked like a bandage, not like the cute little pink one on the little girl in this picture. I have a horrible memory, but I will never forget having to rip the eye patch off every few days to put on a new one. It was not fun, but I am glad it was treated. Otherwise, I could be functionally blind right now.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen