Juvenaile transient blindness

[deekay38]

Hi all

My Niece of two and a half yrs old complains of temporary blindness, on 3 occassions that I know of,  lasting no more than 30seconds usually less. Her mother seems to not want to take her seriously and has not been to see her GP (doctor).
Usually this occurs upon waking from a sleep during the day, Yesterday however she was walking across the kithchen when she  suddenly became distressed and complained she couldn't see. This lasted about 5-10 seconds. Being a Podiatrist I noticed that her gait changed during this time, to maintain her balance as one would if suddenly blind, which is why I don't think she is pretending or something as her mother seems to think.
What would be your advice?

Cheers Deekay38

[ryn21]

I have read of such conditions on the net.  I am not a doctor but through my reading over the years, I have read that such conditions are sometimes caused by toxins in the blood from a variety of things, causing temporary blindness due to the toxins' effect on the central nervous system.  Vitamin A difficency has been linked to blindness, although im not sure if that is a fact for both temporary and permanent blindness.

There are a number of causes.  I would definitely have her checked out by a pediatrician or GP, an opthamologist, or maybe even a neurologist depending on what the GP thought was neccessary.  Blood tests could be done as well to check for toxins in the blood and possible deficiencies.  Her mother really needs to take this seriously, regardless if she feels her daughter is "faking" it.  I hate to hear of these types of things in young children, its a sin. Hope everything goes well for her.