RALEIGH, N.C. -- Parents love to take pictures of their children. It is a way of capturing a moment in time. But photographs may capture something else: a deadly form of cancer.
When Dr. Timothy Jordan, a pediatric ophthalmologist, does a routine checkup on his patients, one problem he looks for is retinoblastoma, a tumor of the eye. He does a red reflex test to check for it. Seeing red is good; seeing a white opaque spot is bad.
"It's light that's not getting through and transferring back," Jordan said.
The tumor can even be seen in a normal photograph when a child has red eyes caused by a flash. Aside from the tiny reflection of the flash, if an opaque white spot appears on the eye, it may be a tumor.
There used to be just one treatment for retinoblastoma -- removal of the eye.
"But there have been, more recently, some successes with treating smaller- and medium-sized tumors with chemotherapy combined with laser and also radiation therapy," Jordan said.
Retinoblastoma is most common in children 1 to 4 years old. About 300 children a year are diagnosed with it in the United States. Health experts say the disease is pretty rare, but it is something parents can easily check for just by looking at a picture.
"I would say that if it was observed and seen on a photograph and had an abnormal appearance, that would warrant an examination," Jordan said.
Also, Jordan said that white spot may also be the result of other conditions. It should be checked out by a pediatrician. If left unchecked, health experts say retinoblastoma is almost always fatal.
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