Saving Baby's Sight: 8 Month Old Diagnosed With Cataracts

At seven months, Carter Moll liked to be held close to his parents' cheeks. He liked to feel their warm breath and their features as he ran both of his hands down their faces.

Carter Moll in a family photo. Cataracts affect 3 out of 10,000 babies

(Courtesy Susannah Moll)

"It reminded us of something a blind person would do," said Carter's mother, Susannah Moll, of Madison, Wisc.

A routine well-baby exam when Carter was born showed normal development of his vision. But then Moll noticed that her baby's left eye began turning inward. She took Carter to his pediatrician, who in turn referred him to an ophthalmologist.

What the opthalmologist found was something that would be startling to most -- Carter had cataracts in both eyes.

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Cataracts -- a clouding in the lenses of the eyes -- are a condition more often associated with older Americans or aging pets than with babies.

"They were very subtle so [the doctor] didn't see it was that big of a problem," said Moll. "He said surgery needed to be done, but I didn't know how soon."

That was last month. But within just a few weeks of his diagnosis, Moll noticed that Carter's left pupil was spotted by white clouds. And after a few days his right eye also developed milky white spots. And less than one month from his diagnosis, Carter underwent two surgeries to remove the cataracts from his eyes.

"The thing that's special about Carter is how rapidly his vision deteriorated," said Dr. Michael Struck, Carter's ophthalmologist at the University of Wisconsin. "The only thing he could tell was whether it was day or night; he couldn't see anything else."