Poker players call it a “tell” – the thing some people do when, for instance, they are holding a really good hand. Maybe they adjust their eyeglasses, or run their fingers through their hair. They don’t know they do it, and the folks around the table certainly aren’t going to clue them in about it.
Photo from: http://www.knowtheglow.com
It turns out that some very serious eye diseases of childhood have a “tell,” too. And it’s one we should all be aware of. That’s the goal of the “Know About the Glow” campaign, an awareness initiative organized by The Vision Center at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.
The “glow” is one that appears in one or both eyes of kids in flash photographs. This isn’t the “red eye” effect we’ve all seen; rather, it’s a white or gold glow or glint, and it’s often the first indication that a child has Coats’ disease, a blinding retinal condition; retinoblastoma, a potentially fatal malignancy; and over a dozen other eye diseases and cancers.
According to the campaign’s website, 1 in 80 children will have the glow. And it claims 80 percent of the cases of Coats’ disease and retinoblastoma are first spotted by a parent looking at a photograph. But the most important statistic on the site is this one: 80 percent of childhood blindness is preventable. And the key to preventing blindness is early detection and treatment. That’s why knowing about the glow is so important.
On the “Know About the Glow” site you can see family photographs of children in which the glow is very visible, and watch video accounts of two boys’ battles with eye disease, one with Coats’ and one with retinoblastoma.
And you can support the campaign by passing along a link to this post or to the campaign’s website. This is a “tell” that everyone should know about!
