(enlarge the photo & you'll see what I'm talking about.)
His left eye is mostly a lighter grayish/hazel with the upper right quarter being brown. His right eye is mostly brown, but the *very* outer upper&lower rim is that same gray/hazel color, not seen here, but a little evident in the last of the pics below.
When I mentioned to the pediatrician that I thought Austin had different colored eyes, he said (without a glance at me or baby), "well, you would know, since you're the one who sees him every day." When I picked up my jaw off the floor, I asked, "well. is this something I should be concerned about?" And his answer was... (brace yourselves)... "there's a really pretty actress who has that, who was it? oh, yah, Kate Bosworth."
...that's it.
Are you kidding me!?!
Okay, M.D.
Thanks for a whole lotta nada!
I have high expectations, and possibly slightly higher for him, since he's a world renowned pediatrician and all, but this response was unacceptable for any pediatrician, period. I'd rather hear an, "I don't know," which, by the way, I did hear more than once. "I don't know" is good, it's honest, it's human. But empty promises to find out or to "think about it" are just plain unhelpful & non-reassuring!
I am not concerned about what it "looks" like. I want to know if HE is okay. You know? There is a handful of syndromes that include this as one of the characteristics, and although for the last 4 months I've been assuming that it's just a little genetic fluke (which is possible)-- Today I've, once again, allowed a little maternal worry in. I want to KNOW he's okay.
So despite all the reassurance I've given myself, and the doctors lackadaisical attitude about it. Despite the absence of anything that would cause me to believe that he's anything other than perfectly normal. I'm here thinking about & researching it again, and this time I ran across a website that actually says that the baby *should* be tested by an opthamologist and pediatrician, and possibly by a geneticist. Hmph! Kate Bosworth...
To be fair, even though I was thoroughly disappointed by many aspects of our office visit, his brother majorly redeemed their practice at our subsequent visit, & he's the one I'll be seeing from here on out. I've been debating whether or not to post this, because I don't want to berate anybody. Thus, no names are mentioned. And if you guess, well, I'm not really that concerned. I'm mostly shocked by the bedside care we received!
P.S. Here's a picture of Austin in normal lighting. You really have to look, and in pretty direct or bright lighting, in order to see the discolorations.
This is the *first* time I've gotten a picture of the actual details in the last 5 months, if that tells you anything. I can't even answer the question I know they're going to ask me... was this present at birth? I truly have no idea! I didn't even notice it until my niece was holding him around Christmas-time, and she said "Woah, his eyes are so strange!" I didn't think anything of it, until the next day when I looked and went, "WOAH!" Some mom I am! Wasn't I gazing into his eyes and admiring his every feature in those first two months?
5 comments:
Well I am going to be as much help as the Dr, maybe a bit more pleasant though. My very good friend has this; one brown eye, one hazel. I LOVE IT! And I bet girls will too when he is at the stage of wanting their attention. That said, I too would want to make sure there aren't any other issues in conjunction. You're a smart girl, you'll get your answers.
I had a classmate in eletmentary and junior high with one brown eye and one blue eye...I think she moved by high school, so I can't remember if you would have met her. She seemed pretty normal to me...
Anyway, so I was curious...the one I went ahead and looked up was the Waardenburg Syndrome, cause I'd never heard of it. Unless his hearing seems impaired, the only other thing that Austin has had in relation to this particular syndrome is the digestive issues, right?...but really that could be coincidental. And I don't think his nasal bridge looks too wide at all.
What I really wondered at first, was could he be a chimera, having two sets of DNA...but that wasn't listed on your site...so I guess it's not that.
Our nursing training makes us learn towards hearing zebras instead of horses...something I told the pediatrician when Peter was born...but turned out for us, it really was a zebra (meaning something rare and unlikely) and not a horse after all.
He's healthy and happy, and as long as he checks out with an opthamologist I would think that would be enough to rule out anything in need of attention.
It is real hard to see the color difference the pictures. I think his eys are lovely!
Here's a link to a neat article about Mosaics and chimeras...maybe he's a bit mosaic, it's suppose to be far more common, and it doesn't seem to cause any harm.
http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=50
Thx for the comments! I love hearing about normal people who have this! Everything I've read just says that it's extremely rare, it can be normal but it can also be an indication of a handful of disorders (most of which have mental delays/deficits as one of their characteristics, while some also have reproductive issues, or vision/hearing/skin abnormalities.) I can't even look at him and think about the possibility of any of this, it doesn't seem likely, with how perfectly normal & happy he is! When it creeps into my concious mind, I immediately push it out. It's just not a good thing to think about. And especially to talk about!
Dede, I agree with you, but I'm afraid to say it until I know for sure it's normal, but here goes, because I'm going to revert back to my naivity and assumption that it's ALL GOOD. It helps me. Though I will be making an opthamologist appt & mentioning it to the new pediatrician. So here goes: I think it'll just be a unique characteristic that may cause many a little lady to gaze into his eyes with intrigue. Those dimples will help the equation too. I think my boys are just so cute!
S- I'm not sure if I remember anybody like that in grade school. But you went to TDS, didn't you?
I didn't think Waardenburg fit either. The gi problems associated with it are different than the ones that he's had. Though my whole little family has chronic constipation issues, haha, but none of the others. We maintain with our prunes and fiber.
I'm not sure about the chimera or mosaic thing. It sounds so... I don't know, so inbreeder-ish! But I'm not sure. My guess that with chimera, an early ultrasound would show some sort of abnormally shaped gestational sack or something, since it's two developing into one, right? I didn't find anything about that.
Anyways, until I have reason to be concerned, I'm just pushing those (thankfully infrequent) thoughts away. (You're right, being in the medical profession doesn't help! lol) :) Keep y'all posted!
Wow... some doctor. I'm curious as to who you see now. ;) Do you think you'll take him to see an eye doctor?
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