Diagnosis: Coats’ Disease
When Hunter was 4 months old, his granny took a flash photo of him. She noticed his right eye had a normal “red eye” that is common in a lot of pictures, but his left eye pupil had a yellowish-white glow. Granny knew this could be a sign that something might be wrong with Hunter’s eye, and asked his mother, Whitney, if she had noticed any pictures with a yellow/white glowing left eye. She found several pictures from the past 3 weeks with the yellow glow, initially thinking it was just the angle of the camera flash. After emailing the pictures to our local pediatric ophthalmologist, we had an appointment within a couple of days. Upon his initial exam, the doctor was concerned Hunter may have Retinoblastoma or Coats’ Disease but felt it would be best to have him examined by a retinal specialist for a definite diagnosis. The doctor gave an immediate referral to St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. While at St. Jude’s, diagnostic testing under anesthesia was performed and Retinoblastoma was ruled out. Coats’ Disease was the official diagnosis.
Although Hunter has no central vision in his left eye, he is a thriving and very active 3-year-old. We are grateful we know about “The Glow” and were able to get Hunter diagnosed in the early stages of this disease.
