White eye on picture with flash - should i worry?

[RGPargy]

Hi everyone.

my friend brought it to my attention today that on a couple of the pictures she'd taken of DD with her camera, she'd had a "white eye" in 2 of them. I've not seen the white eye on any other pictures from her camera or on any pictures taken on my camera. In 99% of the pictures my friend took on her camera, everyone had red eye whereas mine has a better red eye control and so there was none - not sure if it's the red eye that helps make these things visible or not??

Do you think i should worry or do you think it was probably just the light at the time the pics were taken? As i have said, i have checked all the other pictures we have taken of DD and there are no others of her with a white eye.

TIA.

Had she read about that baby who was diagnosed with a very very rare cancer of the eye? Her photo was seen on a website by someone who 'diagnosed' it by looking at the photos.

Because it is not consistent, it is likely to be the camera. If you are worried, take her to see your opician.

probably nothing sinister. We had the same thing with my nephew at Xmas - a few photos of him had one white eye. We did some research and if the eye is not foucssing quite right ( common in LO's ) then it can show up white. To be totally happy though why not go to the doctor as I think they can have a look and quickly see if anything is up.

I would get it checked. It can be indicative of a very serious childhood cancer.

WRT your camera - it depends how the red eye protection works (there are a number of ways to do it). Most work by causing the iris to contract prioir to teh proper flash. In this case you wouldn't detect a white eye either as the iris has been contracted.

georgiemum - yes, she had read about that article and maybe that's why she mentioned it to me.

Mousemole - interesting point about the eye not focussing properly. DD is now 13 months but in the pictures she was more like 8/9 months. Would the eyes still not focus properly at that age?

Slightly - Thinking about it, i dont think i DID use the red eye reduction thing because it flashes in fast pulses first, which made her close her eyes before the actual picture was taken, which meant i was getting crap shots.

Get it checked. Then you will not be worried. My betting is that its the camera or the angle at which the pictures were taken. There are a list of things that can cause this, from something as smiple as a slight squint to more sinister problems that should be ruled out. So i would say don't worry, but pop DD along to a doctor/opthalmologist sometime.

RG have a look at my DS on my profile page.

Definitely get it checked out. It can be really serious but if not like my DS the faster it is seen the faster it is sorted.

He has one white eye and one red eye, I was absolutely terrified it was cancer. I took the photos at bed time, went to specsavers at 9 the next morning, was seen straight away (I took the photo's in with me and looked tearful which helped a bit I think!) they told me straight away there was nothing wrong with the back of his eye i.e. no tumour, but I phoned and got an emergency appointment with the doctor as well. Doc said nothing wrong but I pushed for a hospital appointment and got one 2 weeks later.

He has a very long sighted eye (white one) and a normal one, this would normally be a squint. He is wearing glasses now and a patch for 3 hours a day but he will be fine for school.

Out of interest, does your DS's eye show up white in every picture or just some/the odd one?

Thanx for the advice tho, think i will get it checked out, just to be on the safe side.

we had this with dd2 a few months back now. Her pics are in my profile, you will see it clearly. I was so worried went to GP got referred and was seen within 2 weeks. It turned out she has a funny shaped eye ball and needs glasses.
Happened to a friend and her son did have cancer, this was spotted by her sil. Worth making an appointment.
We were advised to take pics in darkened room with a camera with no red eye reduction too, to see how often it showed.
HTH

Thanx for that Lisa. I will try that. The two pics that it shows up on were taken in the daytime, broad daylight etc. Cant remember if there was flash or not but will try the darkened room tomorrow.

It's easy enough to have it checked out. Even if it's only a focusing problem better to deal with that sooner rather than later.