If your DC has one of those photos with one white eye and one red eye, who's the best first point of call?

[TortoiseUpATreeAgain]

GP or optician or someone else?

I know it's most likely nothing but seem sensible to get it checked out. I'm just not sure with whom.

I'd probably opt for optician, as a) they see more eyes than do GPs, and b) I'd probably be able to get a quicker or walk in appt.

Best of luck.

Both? Hopefully your GP will be clued up and refer onwards fairly quickly, but an optician would do a more detailed eye exam on the spot and also pass you on (not sure they have referring powers, but they could certainly write a letter to a GP detailing what they'd found which might hold sway if you're unlucky enough to have a GP who's not absolutely on top of things to do with opthalmology). But get it seen to quickly, either way - as in first appointment you can possibly get for both.

Optician - they'll see you very quickly, and can send direct to the hospital opthamologists if they think things need that

PS should say good luck, and very much hoping for your sake it's just lens flare on the camera or something - but if it isn't, speed is really important.

Optician.

However this is common with phone cameras so try not to stress too much.

How old is your dc? I say this because we looked into dd when she was about 5 for the same reason. We went to the doctor who suggested we see the optician. It was nothing, And the optometrist told us that it being something serious was much less likely in children over 3 or 4. (Though you should get it checked anyway to be on the safe side.) she also said most cases she saw were lens flare...but that it's good to have your mind out at rest.

I've never heard of this. What's the potential issue?

totoro, explored: I think OP is worried about this
retinoblastoma

It is very, very rare, and mostly (as gamer and fishstix have said) such photos are just lens flare - but you should get it checked out by an optician just to rule it out.

Optician.

However, you could also take another picture, with flash, straight on.
Most unequal eyes are due to the head having been turned and the reflection from the flash at the back of the eye not hitting at the same angle in both eyes. Does that make any sense at all??

I went to the GP, as they had an appt straight away and it's across the road. Optician would have been a trip to the local town centre.

GP just looked in her eyes and said it was fine. He did say in older children it's less likely to be retinoblastoma because they would be able to tell you there's an issue with their vision.

So I'd go with whichever is most convenient and you can get seen sooner..

She's three and a half, so getting towards being too old for retinoblastoma but not quite old enough that I can exclude it, and I'm 99% sure it's just DH's crappy phone camera. But it's one of those things they always tell you to get checked out rather than adopt a wait and see policy, and there's still that 1% unease. I remember reading that since the advent of camera phones the numbers of concerned parents looking for reassurance have gone way up (but then so have the early diagnosis rates so a lot of lives are being saved in children who wouldn't normally have been diagnosed for ages).

Good points -- I'll see which one can fit us in this week and go from there.

Personally I would go to the GP.

There are other conditions which can have this effect on photos. My DS1's eye condition is rare and was picked up at the school NHS eye test in reception, but it sometimes shows like this.

My GP said that it would have been unlikely that a regular 'high street' optician would have picked it up.

The hospital have been great though.

We had this in photo. Went to gp like others would have been trip to town for optician.
They turned light off and looked in eyes.
We had an opticians appt booked already for 2m later but didnt dare wait as DD was 18m & icsi baby and read there was a larger number with it.
All was fine but i made optomitrist check too due to reasons above and also i have cataracts from birth and that can apparently appear in a similar way

Yes you are right naty1 my son has a congenital cataract, and so that eye does not appear red in photos.

*PigeonPie, I think that comment by your GP was a bit ill-advised.
I am a GP, and the eye examinations we can perform at the surgery are much less sensitive than anything a high street optician can do. In terms of equipment and ability to look at the back of the eye an optician will do a much more thorough job if it than a GP can.

Tortoise, I hope you've had your concerns put to rest?

(Outing myself a bit here, but worth it, I think!) My DS has retinoblastoma (the condition linked to above), which is often first picked up by parents noticing a white pupil reflex in flash photos (like the normal red eye one, but white). Either an optician or a GP should be able to check your child out, but it's important that you ask them for a proper red reflex test, like the one described here. As PPs have said, retinoblastoma is very rare (so your child probably doesn't have it) - but this also means that most GPs and opticians won't ever see a case in their working lives, so it's helpful to let them know what exactly you're concerned about and how they can screen for it. Also, as other posters have said, there are other eye conditions (cataract, Coats' disease, etc.) which can produce a similar white eye effect, so it's worth ruling those out too.

Just for reference, the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (who support families affected by retinoblastoma) have recently teamed up with Vision Express, so their opticians should be aware of the signs of retinoblastoma.

(Incidentally, Pacific, I wouldn't necessarily rely on taking another photo straight on in order to rule out the possibility of retinoblastoma, even if you get a normal red eye reflex doing this. My DS has bilateral retinoblastoma (multiple large tumours in each eye) and we still get the odd photo with red eye these days - it seems that the white eye reflex is very dependent on the the angle of the flash, position and size of the tumours, etc.)

Tortoise, I hope you've been able to take your DD to be seen and that it turned out to be your DH's crappy phone camera!

I took dd2 to the optician after noticing I had tons of pictures of her with the same white eye. I was quite worried but there was absolutely nothing wrong at all. It's a very rare disease - mackerella will probably testify to this - but you need to put your mind at rest.

My dd had this, I took her to the opticians in the village and they checked her eyes thoroughly there and then.

It turned out to be nothing, good luck.

No, mackeralla, you are right, it would be daft to rely on that . Equally children get diagnosed with retinoblastoma who've never had a 'dodgy' photo.

Congenital cataract surely is more common though? And gets checked for at baby checks?

Thanks PD, glad you weren't offended! It's great that you (as a GP) and so many other MNers are aware of retinoblastoma because most cases are (I think) diagnosed after a parent has taken their child to the GP or optician with concerns. That awareness and early diagnosis is key.

It is a very rare condition - only 40-50 children per year are diagnosed with it in the UK - which is why I never know whether or not to post on threads like this one. On the one hand, I'm happy to share our experience (and try to give correct factual information about retinoblastoma where I can) ... but on the other hand, I don't want it to come across as scare mongering when the overwhelming majority of children who have a dodgy white eye in photos won't turn out to have retinoblastoma.

It's the massive surge in mobile phones with cameras that's to blame. Most photos are taken with phones now and the flash is something awful.

I takes a lot more to offend me

My dd had Retinoblastoma too. I asked my health visitor who referred us to the eye clinic in our local hospital. As mackerella has said, it's very rare but insist on a check up. I noticed a little flash in dd's eye but took months to decide to get it checked - I felt so guilty afterwards . However her treatment was very effective and she has been clear for years.