Sometimes "white eye" is just "white eye"

I took this picture of Isaac back on Ash Wednesday when we had visited a local museum. I just uploaded it on the computer and got it from the photo lab last week, however. I noticed the "white eye" in Isaac's eye and vaguely remembered reading something a long time ago that said if you ever saw it in a picture of your child to have their eyes checked.

When I was scrapbooking Saturday night, I saw the picture again and asked my husband if he had ever heard anything about "white eye" in pictures. He said, "No" but that we could look it up. Sure enough, the internet told us that this could be a sign of retinoblastoma, a dangerous childhood cancer occuring in 1 out of 20,000 children. There was nothing that said this could just be a "camera fluke." Still, I tried to hold out hope, all the time worrying about my little boy. I called the eye doctor first thing Monday morning and got an appointment for today to have his eyes dilated and looked at. Thankfully, everything was fine. It was indeed just a "camera fluke." The doctor mentioned that there had been another mother in last week with the same concern about a much younger child which makes me wonder if perhaps newer digital cameras are more prone to this anomaly than the old film versions.

So, if you come across "white eye" in your photos (especially if it occurs in more than one photo), definitely have your child checked. Retinoblastoma is too serious to ignore, but have hope that maybe everything is in fact OK.