Baby Mason loses eye but he’s getting on with life
THE baby with the golden glow in his pupil has had his eye removed.
Twenty-week-old Mason Page made national headlines last month after his mother Sarah Bowers noticed a golden glow in his eye in photographs.
Within days of discovering the glow, Bowers was told by specialists her baby was completely blind in his left eye, and needed to have it surgically removed in case he had Coats’ disease, or retinoblastoma, a rare eye cancer.
Mason had surgery on Thursday morning in Auckland and Bowers said everything went as planned.
‘‘He was pretty upset just before the operation because he was hungry and had been nil-by-mouth. So they took away a grumpy baby. That was obviously really hard, handing him over,’’ she said.
‘‘When we got into recovery he was wrapped in a blanket and was screaming his head off. He had a big patch over his eye and that was quite upsetting seeing that.
‘‘But we gave him his bottle, and he was a bit grumpy and upset and really, really drowsy and sluggish. He wasn’t our usual happy boy.
‘‘But the surgery went perfectly. They said it was all fine and was an absolutely straightforward procedure.’’
Mason spent the night at Starship children’s hospital and by the morning was back to his normal happy self.
‘‘You would never know anything was different. He’s back to smiling and laughing and he’s just got a big patch on his eye.
‘‘We haven’t removed his patch yet . . . it’s obviously going to be quite hard to see that. They have said it will be all swollen and bruised and it will look like he took a bit of a beating.’’
During the operation surgeons removed Mason’s eye and put in a small acrylic implant that his prosthetic eye would eventually attach to, Bowers said.
‘‘They cut away all the muscles and the optic nerve from his real eye and then attached the implant, which is covered in human tissue, and put that back in the socket and reattached all the muscles and nerves to the implant.
‘‘That’s why he will still have a little bit of movement when he gets his prosthetic eye put in. The only thing he obviously won’t have is his sight.
‘‘At the moment they have stitched his eye shut, but in about eight weeks’ time they will look at putting his artificial eye in.’’ Relieved mum Sarah Bowers
Bowers said she would not have a definitive diagnosis for Mason and his golden glow eye until doctors had dissected and analysed it.
‘‘The surgeons are leaning towards thinking it may be Coats’ disease, but they obviously can’t tell until the eye has been under the microscope.
‘‘They are quite positive it’s not cancer, but they can’t rule it out yet.’’
Mason was discharged from hospital yesterday and will head home to Okato, in Taranaki, to recover.