White pupil in picture

[Don2705]

We just noticed in the attached picture of our 5 month old that one of her pupils is white.  It was especially concerning since it was taken indoors and no one else has red or white eyes in the picture.  We've scheduled an appt with our pediatrician for tomorrow morning, but are worried sick tonight.

We've never noticed this in any other pictures.  How worried do we need to be?

[olilanegra]

I've noticed white pupils in some pictures of my 3 month old. Here's a link for the photos. Should I be worried?

http://tinypic.com/r/ic1lds/8

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Yes tell the ophthalmologist Eye MD

JCH MD

[kayelizabeth73]

hello there, my daughter is now 7 years old and has been under the guidance of an eye specialist since she was 2 years old with a squint and a weak right eye. she wears glasses and  we have done a lot of vision therapy and patching worklwith her. just recently someone commented on a photo i had put up on facebook of her and they pointed out that her right eye was white and her left eye her good eye is red.. should i  tell the specialist she sees now about my concerns it is showing up white in photos , would it not have shown up in all the dilating tests she has had done in the past  . any advise would be greatly appreciated kay

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

You should have the child see an ophthalmologist for a dilated pupil exam.  It is a symptom that demands an evaluation but the white reflex does not always indicate a problem.  Your pediatrician can refer you.

JCH MD

[Nicole_93]

My son is a month old and I was taking pictures of him when I noticed that both eyes were white but I also had my flash on since it was dark in the house. Should I be worried or not.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

I think the advice you were given is poor on b oth occassions. To really tell you not to worry the child needs a dilated retina exam by an ophthalmologist ideally a pediatric ophthalmologist.

I am familiar with the operation of most medical practices. If you physician is on vacation there would seem to be two options: 1. See the pediatrician seeing his cases 2. Many offices would arrange a referral to a pediatric ophthalmologist by phone call to the peds office staff.



JCH MD

[funnycity]

Dear Dr. Hagan,

    Just to follow up on our conversation...
My doctor is actually away on vacation until November, that's why I brought my son to an optometrist. However, my son's eyes were slightly swollen yesterday (and still are) and I brought him to a walk-in clinic. The pediatrician there saw him and said he is ok. When I mentioned about the white pupils in pictures, he just told me not to worry and dismissed my case.

Is it too long to wait for the return of my own doctor to make a referral? Or should I bring my son to emergency? Would they be able to help?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

In my opinion you wasted time and money going to a non-MD, non-physician ophthalmologist. Generally if you go to your pediatrician he/she will arrange a consult with an Eye MD physician pediatric ophthalmologist much sooner than you calling in.

I think the optom's opinion is not helpful. You might call your pediatrician and see if he/she can get your child in sooner. It is very important to follow up on this.

JCH MD

[funnycity]

My son is almost 4 months old now. I have noticed white pupils in some of his photos since he was a month old. Yesterday, I brought him to an optometrist for an eye exam because of this . She gave him some eye drops to dilate his pupils. It was difficult to examine him becuase my son closed his eyes every time the light was shined on him. She could only manage to examine the right eye. She said that the retina looks pale and needs to be referred to a pediatric ophthalmologist.
I am just really worried now that his eyes are abnormal. Right now, I am just waiting for the specialist appointment. What does it mean when she said "the retina looks pale" (She wouldn't explain further)? What would be the cause of that? And how urgent it is for my son to get seen right away (it usually takes a few months for anyone to get seen by a specialist at where I live)?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

You should have the child see an ophthalmologist for a dilated pupil exam.  It is a symptom that demands an evaluation but the white reflex does not always indicate a problem.  Your pediatrician can refer you.

JCH MD

[kay_amelia]

Should I be worried if on a picture of my 7month old daughter one of her eyes are white? Please help

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

If the physician you saw was a pediatric ophthalmologist EYE MD and the pupils were dilated then that should   be enough to rule out the serious causes.

JCH MD

[melrad]

Our son showed some white relfex in pictures.
We took him to the pediatrician who checked his eyes with a Ophthalmoscope.  She turned the lights off to do this. She told us that the eyes looked normal.  Should we be concerned about the white reflex in the pictures?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Yes, in the one photos the pupil is whte. Coupled with your other observations about the child I would strongly suggest your pediatrician refer her to an ophthalmologist to determine for certain if any of these are problems.

JCH MD

[pepi79]

We took a photo wit HTC phone yesterday and noticed that one of my daughters eyes is with white reflection. I can not see it ona nay other photos and took several more after this shot with anothr camera, but again could not see anything. I am concerned, because the same eye started changing shape about a week ago, has redness which comes and goes on the inner side of the eyelid, also it becoems puffy after she wakes up. Is tehre anything to worry about?
Thanks!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Taking a picture of the back of the eye in a 7 month old can't be done without anesthesia. The exam your child received is adequate to say don't worry and that the reflex is just a funcition of light reflection with the red reflex compensation.

JC MD

[scaredmommy09]

Dear Dr. Hagan,
We recently discovered a similar picture of our son who is now 7 months old. When I looked back at old pictures, I began to notice it in several of them. Generally it was in the left eye but from time to time it was in the right eye. It always seems to happen when we have the red-eye correction feature turned ON.

Based on several internet posts, we have taken lots of pictures of him in a darkened room with this feature turned OFF and the pictures always come back normal, with vivid red reflex in both eyes.

Of the (literally) hundreds of pictures we have of the baby, this weird white pupil has shown up in about 20 or 25, I think.

We scheduled an appointment with our pediatrician who examined the baby and said everything looked normal but they referred us to a pediatric ophthomologist just to be safe.

We saw her on Monday and she took a few pictures of his eyes using a digital camera, noting normal red reflex. She also dilated his eyes and said that everything looked fine and that it might just be something with our camera. She noted that some babies eyes don't open very wide when dilated but said that the baby's had opened very wide and she was able to see them well.

However, someone later mentioned to me that they were surprised they hadn't taken a picture of the retina. He is also rubbing his eyes a bunch which is a little concerning (though I suppose that could be related to his crazy eczema).

So, long story short -- I am just wondering if I should still be worried and get a second opinion since I have never seen our camera do this to anyone else's eyes. I really liked the doctor and am inclined to think everything is OK -- I just don't want to miss anything when it's something so important.

Is there any other explanation about what would be causing this white reflection in just his eyes? Are there any other tests you think she should have run? Or, should I just assume it's normal and move on??

Many thanks for your help,
A Scared First Time Mommy in Chicago.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

A "white pupil" in a child is always an emergency and you need to be referred to a pediatric ophthalmologist ASAP. There are some very serious things that can cause this including a malignant tumor (retinoblastoma), malformation of the inside of the eye, pediatric cataract and some others

HOWEVER there are other less serious things than can cause this and the last three parents that came to these eye forums and posted pictures with white reflex got GOOD news from the ophthalmologist.

Please let us know what the exam by the Eye MD showed.

JCH MD