Red eye reflex - am I colorblind?

[SB100]

I've been in the NICU for a week now and upon examining newborns for the red eye reflex I struggle. I do see light reflect back at me in all of them, but the color is usually a translucent white or pale/orange color. The NNP I work with has reassured me that they are normal, which makes me wonder if I've got some visual problem or if this is an issue others face.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Andreji]

Hi,

I'm not immensely knowledgeable but I am colorblind and somehow managed to participate in my hospital's guidelines on red reflex examination. I did get a ton of opportunities to do red-reflex exams in that period, and in spite of the colorblindness, in my very humble opinion (i may again be wrong here) i would say
-Generally retinas look (and emit a light that is) very pale/orange-y. it's not like those pictures you find on google or something where one is reeeally red and then there's the other white one, with the leukocoria, however:
-leukocoria does very much stand out like it shows in those pictures, in the sense in which you see a fairly significant difference in color/hue. not all the times, sure, and not for all things (ie, it was much clearer to me when it was cataracts as opposed to RBs).

Essentially the point to be made from experience rather than expertise is that practice, practice and more practice is the way to know how 1) the "normal" looks and 2) the abnormal stands out.

 

[eviorr]

Do you wear glasses? When I was an intern, my co-resident and I were complaining that neither of us could really see a good red reflex in the well-baby nursery. We realized that we both wore glasses, and when we tried looking through the ophthalmoscope without them it became much easier. My theory is that the anti-glare coating on most modern glasses blocks a portion of the reflected light.

- Erick

 

[umass rower]

If the pupils are already constricted, the red reflex will turn more pale, potentially getting close to white (you see this same effect in photography with red-eye reduction). So in instances where you've been trying to get the reflex for a couple minutes, or if the lights are on in the room, you will likely get a much lighter color. In addition, kids with darker eye colors tend to have less classic red reflex results. Even at baseline, though, the reaction is typically an orange-ish color rather than a deep red.