A baby girl was born without eyes in the United States due to a rare genetic disorder that affects only about 30 people worldwide.
All examinations showed that the little girl was completely healthy and had no complications.
However, Taylor Ice and her husband discovered that their baby had been born without eyes and they didn’t understand the reasons why.
Doctors and this Missouri couple were stunned by what happened to the baby after his birth on November 6, 2023.
«I noticed that he didn’t open his eyes, so I asked the nurse. She told me, ‘Well, it’s dark in the womb, so they don’t usually open their eyes right away,'” Taylor told local news station KFVS 12.
The truth is that little Wrenley never opened her eyes and doctors made a discouraging diagnosis.
The hospital’s pediatrician examined the baby and upon examination discovered that he had been born without eyes.
Parents tried to find answers from other doctors, and the diagnoses became increasingly difficult to understand.
After several examinations and consultations, doctors discovered that the baby was suffering from a strange condition called anophthalmia.
Plus, it doesn’t produce a hormone called cortisol, which can affect your bone growth and other immune and metabolic problems.
Only 30 people suffer from this rare disease
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains that anophthalmia is a birth defect that causes a baby to be born without one or both eyes.
“Anophthalmia and microphthalmia (small eye) occur during pregnancy and can occur alone, along with other birth defects, or as part of a syndrome,” the official website says.
This condition resulted in the little girl not developing eye tissue or an optic nerve, which processes images and information in the brain.
The causes that cause this condition in babies are still unknown, but it is believed that genetic factors and the use of certain medications during pregnancy are related.
Experts said that about 30 people in the world have been diagnosed with this strange condition.
Geneticist Nate Jensen of St. Louis Children’s Hospital said the disease is very rare and the baby could expect intellectual and developmental delays.
In addition, he considered it possible that the parents had unknowingly transmitted genetic mutations that resulted in an abnormality in the PRR-12 gene.
“This is an incredibly rare disease. There is a spectrum of how it affects patients. Some patients with the same genetic change have one eye affected. “(The eye) could be completely missing, as in Wrenley’s case, or it could simply be smaller,” Jensen said.
There is no treatment for this condition and doctors decided to perform surgery on the baby to open his eyelids and insert prosthetic eyes to fill the space where his eyes should be.
The aim is to ensure that the facial structure develops normally so that glass eyes can be implanted in this cavity in the future.
The family started a fundraising campaign using the platform GoFundMeto finance the constant doctor visits the baby needs.
“Wrenley is happy and healthy, but her condition puts her at increased risk of disabilities and developmental delays.” “We hope that with resources, help, support and love, she will thrive and live a long and happy life,” they said.
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