AIBU? Daughter has white eye in flash photo!

[MummaHud]

I’ve worried myself sick with Google & seeing all things retinoblastoma! - I’ve heard of ‘know the glow’ before, so my healthy anxiety really has panicked me after looking at my daughters trick or treating photos I took tonight when she was in bed.

out of 9 photos taken… 1 of them had a white eye. Ive attached the photos.

Ive also attached one of my friends little boy, whose eye may also have the very different tinge to it in a picture at the same lit up place! ( although my daughters is way more obvious 💔 )

she had her eyes dilated last year, October 2024 where she got diagnosed with an astigmatism.. she had a follow up eye test in January this year and all was healthy.

she had a brain CT in March this year due to a head collision at school and she had vomiting.. they needed to check for concussion / bleeds , all was fine.

she also had a follow up eye test in September, 30th - so 3/4 weeks ago… and they checked for all things floaters and again all was healthy.

this picture has thrown me MASSIVELY.

AIBU by worrying myself silly? Has anyone got similar stories?

I’ve managed to get in with the opticians tomorrow at 09:10am!

These are the photos 🥲

It looks more like red eye from the camera to me OP, I think that maybe after everything you've been through with your DD's health problems, you're perhaps worrying a bit too much, but you've got an appointment tomorrow, so there's nothing else you can do now but wait, and try not to worry, I honestly don't think there's a problem.

Looks like it's just reflecting light from the house

I think the eye reflection thing is more when it's in one eye and not the other in a photo

It's in both eyes, isn't it?

It looks like reflection and it looks like both eyes? If so I'm sure it's fine. Let us know how you get on tomorrow

Get it checked, but she isn’t looking straight at the camera, and that’s well known for altering the red reflex.

Also, there's a lot of red and I believe white eye means no red

If she had an eye test less than a month ago I reckon they’d have seen a retinoblastoma then OP

It’s this photo out of them all that is worrying me? The white eye…. All the others, aren’t concerning me.

YANBU at all. This sort of thing is terrifying. This is how my friend's malignant retinal cancer was picked up aged 3 and she had to have the eye removed.

As most are saying, the chances are, this is NOT the case of your daughter as it is bilateral, but you aren't stupid for worrying. Go to the appointment tomorrow and put your mind at ease.

I see what you are saying about the photo with a red left eye and white right eye but I think in this case it probably is just a reflection of a white light that could only hit her right retina due to the angle of where it was coming from.

The recent eye test and the fact that the face-on photos are normal, makes me think this. Of course, get her checked again but try not to spiral in the meantime.

That still looks very red to me, just with a bit of light reflecting

❤️❤️❤️UPDATE❤️❤️❤️

We went to the opticians. I showed her the pictures and she said that it’s a reflection of the optic nerve from the flash, and was wondering what I was concerned about - I mentioned Retinoblastoma.

She said there’s an additional scan that checks for Glucoma & Diabetes and I paid for it - as I googled and it shows the cross section of the Retina. This was an OTC scan.

She did lots of looking in her eyes, shining the lights and using lots of different things

She also looked across the scan and said that there’s nothing she can see, no fluid etc..

She said all healthy and sent us on our way.

Presumably one of the the things she did was the red light reflex test which is very reliable for screening retinoblasroma.

Given your daughter has had several thorough eye checks and is school age, it is extremely unlikely retinoblastoma would be an issue for her. It's a very rare cancer, and even rarer still in children over 5.

She didn’t say what tests she was doing, but there was lots of lights involved.. now I’m worried she didn’t do the red light reflex test

Brilliant op 👍👍👍

Pleased all is well.

OP, take a breath, your anxiety is running away with you. You've been to the opticians and they've examined your daughter and said there's no sign of anything wrong.

I think you need to go to your GP and ask about some help with your anxiety before it starts impacting your daughter. I have issues with anxiety myself but there are things that can help.

If anyone else is worried it would have shown up in every photo on just one.

My son's astigmatism caused this. Glad you've been seen. Time to be reassured, I think, as lots of tests have been done.

OP the red reflex test is actually the more very basic test that non eye professionals can use such as GPs and Health visitors. The examination the Optician gave is the much more in depth and accurate one so you have nothing to be worried about, the scan is also fantasticaly good and a game changer for picking up eye health issues so it's brilliant that she sat to have bit done as well !

funnily enough her astigmatism is in her right eye which is the eye that is glowing when her head is turned ( in this photo only )

@MummaHud anecdotal reassurance I’m afraid, but two of my DC’s have astigmatism and their eyes also photograph like that, often one red and one white eye where the other DC have red eyes.
I use an app to sort it if printing the pictures!

Why would it be anecdotal reassurance? Have you not seen my post about the appointment I went to today? All was healthy

Great news OP! I thought looking at the photos that it just looked like a reflection, especially as it’s so inconsistent between photos. Great to hear this morning’s update and you can now put your mind to rest.