A toddler is facing the threat of blindness due to a rare condition that causes her eyes to continuously grow, leaving her in agony and crying blood. Aretria Bice, who is just 21 months old, was born with large blue eyes that everyone found initially found beautiful. However, when she was six months old in May 2023, one of Aretria's lovely blue eyes turned "milky" and any exposure to light caused her to scream in agony.
After being rushed to the hospital, she was diagnosed with a genetic abnormality that resulted in extreme pressure on her optic nerve, causing her eyes to swell. She underwent a series of urgent surgeries, the last two of which were to insert a tube to drain the excess fluid from her eyes. Unfortunately, each surgery failed, with one even resulting in her crying blood.
Now, Aretria is awaiting her sixth surgery. Her concerned parents, Louise, 35, and Connor Bice, 30, have been informed that once Aretria's eyes have grown, they will not reduce in size. The couple are desperate for a solution as their daughter, who is already severely short-sighted, will continue to lose more vision as time progresses.
Louise, a full-time mum from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, said: "Aretria has major damage to her optic nerves - she can only see things closer than 8cm. She has had five surgeries to try to stabilise the optic pressure which would stop her vision damage, but things keep getting worse. "She got a tube put into her right eye in March to relieve the pressure but it di.
