Saturday, September 10, 2011

Red Eye - White Eye - do you know why it's important?



I wanted to share this adorable picture of baby Charlotte with you. Her mom, Sara, gave me permission to post it in hopes of spreading awareness of an easy to detect childhood cancer called Retinoblastoma. She wrote more about it here on her blog:
Sara's Blog
What makes this cancer different is that we have a tool in our homes that can detect a typical symptom early on: a camera!
Since the tumor is inside the eye it affects how light from the flash of a camera is reflected back in low light conditions. Normally we get that red-eye effect due to the blood vessels in the back of the eye. In an eye affected by Retinoblastoma however, that reflection in white.
Knowing this information you can easily detect by looking at Charlotte's picture, which eye is affected by Retinoblastoma and which eye is healthy.

On a technical note: some cameras digitally alter the color in a process called red-eye-reduction and pictures may appear to show white eyes due to that digital alteration. If your camera offers red-eye-reduction, please turn it off, if you are trying to take a picture for this purpose.

3 comments:

Jacqueline said...

my son was diagnosed yesterday with retinoblastoma. is there anything that you can tell us to help us cope with this change? he is going to surgery on tuesday to have a prosthetic put in and is other eye removed.

sara wolf said...

Hi Jacqueline! My daughter is the little girl that is in the picture. There is a support group on facebook for mom's with kids with retinoblastoma. I am hoping this takes you to me on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1541920097 If it does friend me and I can add you to a group of moms whose kids have RB. Your not alone and I know how scary it is to hear those words and to have your childs eye removed!

Karin said...

I am so sorry to hear that. This must be a very scary/stressful time for you and your family!
I have asked Sara (Charlotte's mom) to get some info for you :(