New mum Louise Bice became used to receiving compliments about her baby girl’s “beautiful big blue eyes”.
But little did she know that Aretria’s mesmerising eyes were the symptom of a life-altering, painful condition, leading to blindness.
When Aretria, now 10 months, was six months old one of her eyes turned “milky” and light caused the little girl to scream in pain.
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Louise, 34, and her partner, Connor Bice, 29, a chartered accountant, thought their youngest daughter might have hit her eye with a toy.
But she was later diagnosed with bilateral congenital glaucoma — a genetic abnormality which puts growing pressure on the optic nerve and she was sent to hospital for urgent surgery.
Aretria had a four-hour surgery at Birmingham Children’s Hospital in the UK in June to relieve the pressure on her eye — but a follow-up test showed the operation had failed.
She had a second surgery in August and her parents are now awaiting the results — even though they know she has already lost almost 100 per cent of her vision in one eye already.
Mum Louise now wants to warn other parents to look for the symptoms, and not to assume big, round eyes are “beautiful” when they could be a sign of something more serious. Enlarged eyes are a key symptom of bilateral congenital glaucoma, according to The Medical Journal of Australia.
Louise said, “I never expected Ari’s big, beautiful eyes to be a bad thing.
“Suddenly one day her eye clouded over — one minute it was fine and 15 minutes later it was completely changed.
“Specialists had to do horrific tests on her and I learned she had already lost some vision in both eyes.”
The first gruelling four-hour procedure was followed by a month of eye drops six times a day, as well has having protective eye shields taped to her face for a week.
“After two surgeries we still don’t know what will happen,” Bice added. “She already has just five per cent vision left in her right eye.
“She’s in so much pain and I don’t know if she can cope with another surgery.
“I just think if we had managed to get this diagnosed before the pressure got out of control, she might not now be blind in one eye.
“If someone had said it was weird, she had big eyes rather than cute we might have got it checked — but none of us knew it was even a red flag.
“Doctors said she had been exposed to high eye pressure from birth because her fluid drainage system didn’t form properly in her eye when she was still in the womb.”
After a second operation, Bice believes the signs suggest the surgery may have been unsuccessful for a second time.
“Having big, beautiful eyes isn’t always a good thing,” said Bice.
“If we knew that before, she might not be blind in her right eye now.”
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