Baby Born Without Eyes in China
When Liu Peihua's baby, who is just 1 week old, was born at a Guangzhou, China, hospital, doctors didn’t immediately recognize he didn’t have eyes, FOX News reports.
After realizing he wasn’t just closing them, he was diagnosed with anophthalmia, a rare condition where a baby is born without one or both eyes caused by missing ocular tissue. Though the numbers vary, the National Institutes of Health reports anophthalmia occurs in 1 in every 250,000 births.
The condition is oftentimes associated with other birth defects, and the newborn is currently undergoing testing to see if he has any other conditions doctors need to be aware of. According to FOX, Liu had a normal pregnancy and anophthalmia is oftentimes difficult to pick up on prenatal scans.
CRI reports an MRI may have actually picked up on the condition before birth, but regardless, the baby's parents, who are reportedly devastated but determined to help their child, are working with charities and a larger hospital in Guangzhou to possibly outfit their son with prosthetic eyes. While the eyes of course wouldn’t repair vision, they would help the bones in his skull grow in properly.
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