MESA, Ariz. — Doctors and parents of a three-month old boy named Richie still have no answers as to what caused the child’s eyes to never develop.
Kelly Lopez, Richie’s mom, says she became concerned a few hours after he was born because he still had not opened his eyes. At first the staff thought Richie’s face was just swollen from birth, but thirteen days later, the hospital performed an MRI and it showed Richie did not have eyes.
Richie now wears baby sunglasses, as the family has discovered people can make insensitive comments.
Richie does have an optic nerve, which gives them hope that someday, with advances in medicine, he’ll be able to see.
“That would be amazing,” his mother said. “I do hope that one day that they’ll be able to either grow an eye or transplant an eye.”
Lopez said she had a completely normal pregnancy. Her ultrasounds never hinted her son would be born without eyes.
“The first thought through your mind is, how did this even happen and how was it not even caught?”
Doctors say the condition is extremely rare.
