A rare condition has turned a one year old girl’s pupils unusually large making her look like a Disney baby Princess.
Mehlani Martinez aged 1 is suffering from a Axenfeld-Rieger syndrome , a rare genetic disorder that allows the pupil to take up the larger part of the eyes.
While her giant eyes may look captivating, they come with a serious cost. Her condition could blind her.
Having an unusually shaped pupil causes sensitivity to light. That means that Mehlani must wear sunglasses whenever she goes outside to prevent damage to her eyes.
Her condition also gave Mehlani a 50% chance of developing glaucoma – increased pressure within the eyeball that causes gradual loss of sight.
While her vision is still good today, her mother, Karina worries that her daughter will soon lose her sight.
At five months old Mehlani had artificial drainage canals added to her eyes to prevent the buildup of fluid and pressure.
‘I’d never heard of anybody being born with glaucoma,’ said Karina.
‘People always say she’s so beautiful and she’s s cute, but I felt conflicted because people notice something different about her eyes,’ Karina says. ‘And I worry about when she gets approached by any other kids about her eyes … kids can be mean. But I teach her when people compliment her to say “thank you” and smile.’
Mehlani wants to say thank you to everyone for their kind sweet words! She has no idea what Twitter is but I told her everyone loves her & thinks she’s beautiful 💖 pic.twitter.com/ZEzbo1ZJBn
— moscato mami🥂 (@karinaa_ortega) September 14, 2018
