The idea of predicting illnesses through the eyes has been around for more than a century. Today, experts urge parents to look out for a white glow in the pupil of the eye, which can look like a ‘cat’s eye’ in a photograph because it may be the first sign of a cancer, reports Sade Oguntola.

Staring closely at your face or picture may seem useless, but this is one act that is good you observe regularly. The face is not only a reflection of one’s state of wellbeing, but even those problems often dismissed as trivial such as bloodshot eyes, revealed in the mirror could be signs of hidden health problems.

Surprisingly, bloodshot or sore eyes could be due to a microbial infection, say from an old eye make-up.  Whether it is a pale eye (conjunctiva) suggestive of lack of blood(anemia); a drooping eyelid  suggestive of a possible eye strain or stress; a bleeding gum that might mean an infection of the bones that hold teeth in place (gingivitis); a cracked lip that is sometimes caused by anaemia due to iron deficiency; or a patch on the tongue, which could be due to thrush, these are all easy to spot in the mirror.

Is illness staring you in the face?  In rare cases, especially in babies, a white glow in the centre of the black  of the eye (pupil) could be a possible cancer warning. For instance,  childhood cancer campaigners said that the white glow in the pupil of the eye which may look like a ‘cat’s eye’ in a photograph or when visualised in the dark, especially when there is a normal ‘red eye’ look in the other eye could be suggestive of retinoblastoma.

Retinoblastoma, though uncommon,  is a serious cancer which affects the retina (eyes) of children under the age of five years. It can result in the eye having to be removed if there is any delay in treating it. The earliest sign of retinoblastoma is a “white glow” in the pupil of the eye, which can look like a shinning ‘cat’s eye’ in a photography flash or when viewed at night. The ‘glow’ is caused by the light reflecting off the tumour cells at the back of the baby’s eye.

But “cat’s eye reflex” or leukocoria”is not the only symptom of this cancer. There are other symptoms and signs that could be noticed in children with this eye cancer. This may include squinting, “crossed eyes”, eye pain, redness, protruded eye, and blindness/poor vision in the eye affected.

Fortunately, early detection of this potentially fatal can preserve sight in these children. All it requires is taking a picture of child and examining the way the eyes look in the photograph. This unusual whiteness is particularly noticeable in photographs taken with a flash.

In addition, “one of the earliest symptoms in children with this eye cancer is this ‘shining reflex’. When you look at the eye of the child at night, it would be shining. It resembles what you see when you look at the eye of the cat,” declared Dr Oluyemi Fasina, a consultant ophthalmologist at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State.

Fortunately, “if the case is detected at a stage when the eye still had the shining reflex or look and depending on the location of this cancer, it can be cured and as such sight preserved.”

Following that, if the patient is not picked at that stage, a white spot that mimics cataract is seen at the centre of the black part of the eye. Dr Fasina declared:  “We have seen cases where the mother thought the white patch was cataract and decided not to do anything, waiting till the baby grows older.”

Fortunately, about 60 per cent of all cases of retinoblastoma start off as “cat’s eye reflex” “That is why if the eye problem is discovered at that period, when it is small, the situation can still be helped and the patient will still see. Certainly, this eye cancer that is the commonest eye cancer in children does not necessarily have to kill the child,” the eye expert explained.

In fact, children with retinoblastoma in developed countries still live and they will still see with that same eyes all because they reported early to the hospital. “The parents are enlightened and they report the symptoms early to the hospital when it can still be cured and the patient still has some degree of useful vision unlike in developing countries. In developing countries like Nigeria, a large percentage of children still lose their sight because they come late to the hospital or they refuse treatment until it is too late,” said Dr Fasina.

Unfortunately, when these patients report late to the hospital, the only treatment at that stage is to remove the eyeball because by removing the eyeball, the cancer is removed along with the eye and thus prevented from spreading.

However, “there is this stigma about removal of the eye ball. But we have two eyes and we can survive with only one eye! With adequate parental motivation, the eye can be removed at this stage. Primarily, they will spend less money on chemotherapeutic agent (drugs in treating cancer when it has spread) and radiotherapy which the child would have had to receive in event of late diagnosis. The patient will live and thereby prevent unnecessary death from this.”

Retinoblastoma has one of the best cure rates of all childhood cancers, with more than nine out of every 10 sufferers surviving into adulthood in developed countries. Fortunately, even when there is need to operatively remove their affected eye, it could be replaced with an artificial eye fitted in around six weeks post-surgery.

Screening for retinoblastoma should be part of a “well baby” screening for newborns. This should include checking for a normal reddish-orange reflection from the eye’s retina with an ophthalmoscope in a dimly lit or dark room. A corneal light reflex test can also help to determine whether the eyes are crossed.

Aside this, parents are cautioned that if there is anything unusual about a baby; or a young child’s eye, such a child should be taken promptly to the medical doctor  to be examined. It could well be nothing, but it could also be something which needs treatment to save the child’s sight, if not his life.

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treatment for gingivitis
written by marian ja, February 17, 2012

Public service announcement: have you ever thought that meth and other forms of drugs can actually cause bad breath.

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