Baby girl's big blue eyes that once garnered compliments were a symptom of something serious
- 8 months ago
A baby's "beautiful big blue eyes" which were complimented by everyone - turned out to be symptom of a condition causing blindness.
Louise Bice, 34, was stunned when her daughter, Aretria, 10 months, was born with big blue eyes - a trait nobody else in the family had.
Her "beautiful" eyes would see the tot complimented "six or seven times every day" by strangers - which Louise loved.
But at six months old, in May 2023, one of Aretria's baby blues turned "milky" and any light caused the tot to scream in pain.
Louise and her partner, Connor Bice, 29, a chartered accountant, thought their youngest daughter might have hit her eye with a toy.
But the family were told Aretria had a severe case of bilateral congenital glaucoma - a genetic abnormality which saw extreme and growing pressure on the optic nerve.
Her much-loved big eyes actually required urgent surgery.
Tiny Aretria had a four-hour surgery at Birmingham Children's Hospital, in June to relieve the pressure - but follow-up tests showed it had failed.
She had a second surgery in August and her parents are awaiting the results - although the tot has lost almost 100 per cent of her vision in one eye already.
Mum Louise wants to warn other parents to look for the symptoms - and to not assume big eyes are "beautiful" when they could be a sign of something more serious.
Louise, a stay-at-home mum, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, 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.
"After two surgeries we still don't know what will happen - 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."
After Aretria was born on October 20, 2022, her big eyes had become a source of many compliments from friends and family.
Her parents even lovingly likened their little one to a cartoon bug, thinking nothing of it.
Even doctors and health visitors thought they were sweet - and nobody mentioned any risks.
But on May 20, Louise popped to the shop and when she returned 15 minutes later one of her daughter's eyes was clouded.
Louise said: "Connor sent me a picture that morning of the two of them together while I was out and her eyes were fine.
"When I got back her right eye had clouded over.
They went to their local hospital, King's Mill, Mansfield, then were sent to Chesterfield Royal Hospital, Derbyshire, where doctors identified the high pressure but couldn't work out why it was happening.
Louise Bice, 34, was stunned when her daughter, Aretria, 10 months, was born with big blue eyes - a trait nobody else in the family had.
Her "beautiful" eyes would see the tot complimented "six or seven times every day" by strangers - which Louise loved.
But at six months old, in May 2023, one of Aretria's baby blues turned "milky" and any light caused the tot to scream in pain.
Louise and her partner, Connor Bice, 29, a chartered accountant, thought their youngest daughter might have hit her eye with a toy.
But the family were told Aretria had a severe case of bilateral congenital glaucoma - a genetic abnormality which saw extreme and growing pressure on the optic nerve.
Her much-loved big eyes actually required urgent surgery.
Tiny Aretria had a four-hour surgery at Birmingham Children's Hospital, in June to relieve the pressure - but follow-up tests showed it had failed.
She had a second surgery in August and her parents are awaiting the results - although the tot has lost almost 100 per cent of her vision in one eye already.
Mum Louise wants to warn other parents to look for the symptoms - and to not assume big eyes are "beautiful" when they could be a sign of something more serious.
Louise, a stay-at-home mum, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, 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.
"After two surgeries we still don't know what will happen - 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."
After Aretria was born on October 20, 2022, her big eyes had become a source of many compliments from friends and family.
Her parents even lovingly likened their little one to a cartoon bug, thinking nothing of it.
Even doctors and health visitors thought they were sweet - and nobody mentioned any risks.
But on May 20, Louise popped to the shop and when she returned 15 minutes later one of her daughter's eyes was clouded.
Louise said: "Connor sent me a picture that morning of the two of them together while I was out and her eyes were fine.
"When I got back her right eye had clouded over.
They went to their local hospital, King's Mill, Mansfield, then were sent to Chesterfield Royal Hospital, Derbyshire, where doctors identified the high pressure but couldn't work out why it was happening.