Thursday, November 3, 2011

What are Sunset Eyes?

When I took my girls for their two month old shot, the pediatrician said to me that my daughter Mya has a lot of white space in her eyes. "See, take a look," she said. I got up from the chair and I didn't notice anything odd about my daughters eyes. "She could have sunset eyes," the doctor said. I smiled but I was not sure what that meant. Sometimes, I have a tendency not to ask questions of information that I am unsure of. In this case, I was afraid of what the answer would be. However, after she noticed Milani, she then said, "Oh, that is just the shape of their eyes, she is okay." You might be wondering if I should change doctors, but honestly, she is very good. Yet, the sunset eyes comment kept plaguing me. I never heard about it before, but I am a new mom and their are many things I have not heard or experienced yet. I immediately called the doctor and had her explained to me what it was.

Sunset eyes: the inability to look up. Infant's eyes appear to look only downward.
Does Mya seem to look only down?

Clearly she is looking up at the book.
Does this look like she can't look up? Mya looks up all the time, and after practicing, I realized that there was nothing wrong with her.  Sunset eyes is also a common characteristic of Hydrocephalus.

1 comments:

  1. As A mom of one, you will hear people say some of the most random things and for the most part they mean no harm, but i would have asked the doctor before I left the appointment what that meant because she's a professional and motherhood is scary enough without doctors saying you child has something and not explaining it even if it's nothing, its something to that mom who maybe worrying that that there is something wrong with their child's eyes.

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