When couples consider initial gifts to celebrate the arrival of a new baby, they commonly think of umbilical cord stamps, or hand and foot sculptures.
However, capturing a photo of the fundus, the clear inner part of the child's eye, could be more crucial because detecting congenital eye diseases in newborns, who cannot communicate, can be challenging.
A fundus photograph can play a vital role in safeguarding the health of the baby’s eyes.
As awareness grows about the crucial role of early detection in safeguarding eye health, which significantly impacts the quality of life for a newborn child, some hospitals are already implementing newborn fundus examinations. This screening process helps identify various congenital eye diseases.
Kim Jeong-hun, a pediatric ophthalmologist from the Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology at Seoul National University Hospital, said, "Capturing a high-quality image of the fundus allows for the early identification of most children with eye problems. A single photograph has the potential to profoundly alter a child's life."
While congenital eye diseases are generally rare, there exists a diverse range of types, including eye cancer like retinoblastoma, infantile cataracts, and familial exudative vitreo-retinopathy (FEVR). A newborn fundus exam conducted within the first month of life holds the potential to transform a child's life by identifying these rare eye diseases early and facilitating prompt intervention.
"There are some congenital retinal diseases that do not require early detection, but there are some diseases that are urgent," Kim said.
He took an example of retinoblastoma. This disease, an eye cancer, is rare but about 25 new cases occur in Korea every year, and if you take a fundus photograph, you can detect it early and save your eyes, but most of them are not detected early, he added.
The diagnosis of retinoblastoma, a rare eye cancer that occurs in children, is often delayed in Korea.
"When the tumor grows to a certain size, the eyes become white, and that's when most people come to the ophthalmologist," Kim said. "Sometimes parents bring in fundus photos from the obstetrics department for about $116, and I think those children are very lucky."
When retinoblastoma is in its early stages and relatively small, laser treatment may suffice for a cure.
However, if the detection occurs too late for laser treatment to be effective, Kim warned, "If the tumor grows, you can't just treat it with laser; you have to resort to chemotherapy. If the tumor continues to grow and metastasizes to the brain, the child may face a life-threatening situation."
For this reason, Kim suggests that Korea should actively consider implementing newborn fundus examinations as part of a national health checkup.
Currently, some hospitals' obstetrics departments perform fundus examinations on newborns, and only certain infants are selected.
Unlike adults, newborns cannot identify problems on their own, necessitating the implementation of a national screening project that involves capturing a single fundus photograph within a month of birth, he emphasized.