Morning Glory Syndrome

Posted by Mindozaka72 on 1/6/2011 at 10:12 PM

My three year old daughter has MGS. Can you please share information with me on this? The internet has very limited info.
Thanks

There are currently 34 replies

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

Morning Glory syndrome is a congenital anomaly of the optic disk in which their is a funnel shaped excavation of the posterior fundus incorporating the optic nerve, surrounded by an elevated anulus of chorioretinal pigment.
The issue stems from an undeveloped optic nerve: while in utero, the nerve ending from the eye never reached the nerve ending from the brain. A central core of white glial tissue occupies the position of the normal optic cup, causing a white mass. When a picture is taken of the eye, this white mass stands out apart from the veins of the eyes, looking very much like the center of a Morning glory flower. Reflection from within the eye may give the appearance of a white pupil, due to the lack of the "black" optic nerve mass, although this "clouded pupil" cannot be used to diagnose the disease. Morning Glory Syndrome typically affects only one eye; but cases have been documented of bilateral Morning Glory Syndrome (those with that stage of severe blindness have other disorders as well, like autism
Also, this syndrome is different from an optic disk injury, as the disorder is present at birth and not developed later in life. Young girls are twice as likely to be diagnosed with this disorder, pointing toward the possibility of a genetic connection.

Vision in the affected eye is severely impaired, depending on the completed development of the optic nerve. More mild cases cause limited depth or color perception, while the most severe cause total blindness. Full use of the affected eye is never gained. The most common side effect of this disorder is eyestrain from overuse of the un-affected eye. Also, there is an increased risk of serious retinal detachment, manifesting in 1/3 of patients. If retinal detachment does occur, it is usually not correctable and all sight is lost in the affected eye.


The first noticeable signs of the syndrome usually do not appear until after the first twelve months of the child's life. The child usually has severe balance issues as he or she learns to sit or walk, often leaning or tilting the head toward the good eye to correct the brain's skewed perception of the world. Often the child will fall in the same direction while walking or run into objects that are placed on his or her blind side. The child will also develop a "lazy eye", or an eye the drifts severely away from the child's fixed point of reference. This syndrome must be confirmed through pupillary dilation and examination of the optic disk, as the signs alone will not constitute a diagnosis.

Children with Morning Glory live relatively normal lives, even those who have discolored or lazy pupils. Although safety glasses should be worn for the remainer of the patient's life, this syndrome does not usually prevent the individual from living out a normal life, to include driving cars, playing sports, reading, etc. Certain activities, such as gymnastics and ice skating, are much more difficult for patients with Morning Glory due to a compromised perception of the world and skewed sense of balance, but they are still possible.


You have a very amazing daughter, in fact a one in two million case I hope this helps.

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

hi im a 36 year old lady with 2 boys,i have morning glory syndrome in my right eye,it was noticed when i was 2 years old as i have a lazy eye and hardly any sight in that eye.My boys have been examined and fortunatly they do not have it.i have had 2 operations to correct the turn but they didnt last long.i have always worked in an office and drove a car with no problems,when i was at school children did call me names because of my turn.The things i have found out laterly is that 3d glasses dont work on me.i dont know anyone else with this syndrome and would be interested to talk to someone with it.i have never been told to wear safety glasses.i do get tired ,but i do work on computers 7 hours a day.

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

Hi! I was diagnosed with MGD when I was a baby. I'm completely blind in my left eye and have always been. My son does not have MGD but he does wear bifocals and he's only 2 1/2. I don't know if his vision problems are related to mine, but his vision will improve as he grows.

Being partially blind hasn't affected me much, but I stay clear of freeways. :).

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

I've never heard of Mgs.

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

Morning Glory syndrome is a rare defect of the optic nerve that causes moderate to severe blindness. see
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_​Glory_​syndrome

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

I advice you to take admission to yoga classes to your daughter,by yoga and pranayama you can change your life totally.Below is the website where you find free yoga classes.

http://www.pyptusa.org

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

Hi I'm 21 years old and I have morning glory syndrome. I recommend getting an optimologist if you don't have one already. I grew up with two appointments a year to monitor my mgs. My schooling system was very accomodating. My mgs hasn't hindered me in any way. Ok that's about it for me. Take care

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

my 6 yrs old now, is having mgs. he is good in studies and sports. but now his vision in unaffected eye decreasing. plz. help if somebody know if it could lead to retinal detachment.
plz. plz. plz plz. help if u know anything

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

my 6 yrs old now, is having mgs. he is good in studies and sports. but now his vision in unaffected eye decreasing. plz. help if somebody know if it could lead to retinal detachment.
plz. plz. plz plz. help if u know anything

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

I agree there is not much forum activity about this condition online, hence I am writing to this so that others will hopefully find it and also find comfort and reassurance.

My daughter is 13 months old now and was 10 weeks when she was diagnosed with this in one eye. How so early? We noticed she wasn't tracking objects like she should have, and much to my distress, she wasn't making eye contact with me at all. I thought she might have had autism - I was very afraid.

It was obviously traumatic having a diagnosis of such magnitude so early in her life, but honestly, I can say at this stage anyway, that it really doesn't seem to affect her that badly at all.

We have an excellent pediatric opthamologist (Dr Kimberley Tan in Sydney) and that helps. We have been patching her good eye just 4 x 30 mins per week since she was about 6 months old and honestly? There is no discernible difference in her behaviour when she patches. Not her cooordination, not her depth perception, not her level of happiness. She just gets on with it. So we feel quietly confident, for now at least, that she has a good chance of a good quality of life with this condition. Catching it early is probably critical I guess - we were lucky in that regard. The brain is so malleable in early infancy, you can pretty much teach it to do anything.

Anyway, I'm no medical expert on this but I wanted to post this to encourage parents not to freak out about this condition when their precious child is diagnosed. Like anything, it is a sliding scale, and your little one might be on the sunny side of the spectrum.

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

my five yr old has mgs. he is completely blind in one eye. he is doesnt see very well out of the other one. He has no depth perception at all. i am completely lost i know no one with this condition someone please help me. i want my son to live a normal life as a boy but his dr said no contact sports.....

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

hi, my son (2 yrs) also have MGS, and he also have physical appearance where the specialist was so surprise to see it for the first time...it's quite sad when knowing this but as a parent we have to be strong even have no idea what will happen to him in the future...

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

Hi again - I posted above but felt the need to update. I thought MGS and an optic nerve coloboma were one and the same thing (that's what you get for thinking you can learn and understand everything from Dr Google) but apparently not. My daughter's Dr has admitted he is not quite sure which one she has - it could be either but he is leaning towards the coloboma as that is her diagnosis.

Anyway, she is still doing really well, patching for 30 mins per day at 16 months old. Time will tell.

I wish all of you luck and happiness in your journeys.

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

I am now 56 with this condition. I can remember going to a specialist as a child. A number of years ago the condition was explained to me. I understand the depth prob.You have to watch out going down steps. Being blind on the left side, put me off learning to drive. I still miss edges of benchs & let go mugs before they land on the bench. You need to practice looking left & right. You will notice that you place you good eye in the middle of your face, noticable in photos.

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

My 2 year old daughter was recently diagnosed with MGS. She has showed no signs of vision problems, other than from time to time it looks like she has a "lazy eye". I am having a hard time trying to grasp the concept of how this defect was not detected until now. If we would have never asked her pediatrician about the "lazy eye" we probably would have never known she has MGS. Why aren't there required eye vision tests performed on children at an early age?

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

Hi There,

I just wanted to say that my son's MGS was picked up very early on (4 months) but my paedriatic opthamolgist (also in Sydney, but not the same one as 'Think Positive') said that it can be missed and people think it's just a lazy eye. My son had to have a general anathestic to confirm the diagnosis.

He has not had any treament and now at age 6 can clearly explain that he cannot see anything from this eye. It looks just like a lazy eye and besides running into corners occassionally, it has not stopped him from doing or excelling in anything so far.

I hope that everything works out for you. It is devastating to find out that your child is blind in one eye and I do worry about my child's 'good' eye, but other than safety glasses for contact sports (which we haven't got yet) and education on the dangers of playing with sticks etc., I don't think there's much that can be done.

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

Hi im 16 and have Morning Glory Syndrome it really hasn't affected me much at all except when im using a bow i need to use it left handed even though im right handed and i have depth perception i just can tell by the size of object how close or far the object is but if its in the sky i have no depth perception like if im catching a ball its hard but other than that it doesnt affect me i can drive fine. o ya and i cant see 3d not in real life or in movies

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome - to Positive2

We've just been told that our 4 month old grandson has mgs. My wife and are are determined that the news, though devastating won't prevent us from helping him to have a normal life. Your words offer the kind of encouragement that we needed as a shot in the arm. I'm going to show my daughter your posts and hope that it will be the medicine she needs to move forward. Thank you.

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

Hi. I'm 22 and I was born with MGS in my right eye. My parents caught it early on, around 6 months. Apparently I was able to see shapes but everything was fuzzy. They tried patching my good eye to make it better, unfortunately I didn't understand the importance of it and refused wearing the patch. Around the age of 3, my right retina detached. I didn't have a difficult time getting used to being blind in one eye. At age 11, I had surgery to get the retina reattached-unfortunately it didn't work.
Even thought I am blind in one way, it hasn't hindered my progress at all. I did have to deal with middle school bullies calling me "crazy eye," but it made me stronger. I wasn't ever allowed to play contact sports, just in case something happened to my good eye. Therefore, I got involved with running cross country and other non-contact activities. I do have difficulty with depth perception, but it hasn't stopped me from driving; though, I am not able to watch 3D movies. As someone else mentioned, I do put my good eye in the center of my head-which I would told will cause neck problem since my head is always at an angle. I have also noticed that my good eye will often hurt from the extra use of only having one eye.
Overall, having MGS hasn't hindered me at all. I honestly am thankful that I have it. It is something that I can easily live with and yet it has taught me so much. I feel that having MGS has made me a much more caring and considerate person. It really has taught me a good lesson! Therefore, anyone reading this with youngsters with MGS, even though it may seem like a bad thing-it may be a blessing in disguise.

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

Hi I'm a 37 year old lady who was diagonised with Mgs at 2 years old,my family were very scared and thought it was a tumour at first,I used to go to the hospital every month and have drops put in and I wore glasses which didn't help,I have no vision in my right eye and a turn in that eye,I have had two operations to correct the turn but it only lasts about a year.as one of the other posts I can't watch 3d films,my hospital only knew of one other lady who has it.when I had my two boys they were both checked very early on but neither has it thank god.i have driven from 17 years old with no crashes and have always worked on computers ,my eyes do get tired,I nearly have 100 per cent vision in my left eye which helps,I have lived a normal life and it hasn't stopped me doing anything,one question I'm not sure about is if I should tell dvla?

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

Thank you legrabowski for your insightful, encouraging and optimistic approach. I too think it will be somewhat the making of my daughter in many ways; as the child of 2 professional musicians we even think it might enhance her musicality - so grateful it isn't her hearing!

We are off to see a developmental/behavioural optometrist and visual therapist next week to complement her opthamology treatment (still patching the strong eye 30 mins daily and she is totally fine with it luckily), an idea I got from this brilliant blog that is worth checking out for a well-written account of a little girl and mother's journey as they make their way through various eye diagnoses, treatments and (perhaps most importantly) questioning.

http://lifeandtimesofstella.com/

Good luck everyone.

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

I was diagnosed with MGS in my left eye at the age of 11, I am now 19. I had no idea anything was wrong with my eye until an optometrist noticed something different and referred me to a specialist. I have always had sight in both of my eyes and visibly there is no difference. It is only in the last few months I have noticed a change in my sight and feeling very tired with headaches.

Re:Morning Glory Syndrome

My daughter was diagnosed in January 2008 with Bilateral Morning Glory Syndrome, and has since had surgery to correct a retina detachment in her right eye. Some of us moms of daughters have managed to find each other through the internet. Here is a link to my blogs about my daughters experiences with MGS.
http://www.anaccountofthemiddle.com/search/label/M...
Here is a link to another mother's blogs about her daughters experiences with MGS.
http://oneinamillion-mgda.blogspot.com/
And there is a page on facebook (if you have facebook) that is full of information submitted by either parents of children with MGS or by people that actually have MGS.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/71794705645/

Hope this helps some.

Re: Morning Glory Syndrome

Hi everyone, thank you so much for posting your stories and information on here, it has really helped as we have recently found out that our son has MGS in his right eye. He is now 12 months, he was 8 months when diagnosed.
We are in Melbourne, Australia and have found little information on it or support groups/services here.

We knew early on that something wasn't right as he wasn't engaging and in all photos his eyes looked crossed. My health nurse suggested getting a referal from our GP to have it looked into and thought most likely it would be a squint or turn. I have to say we were very shocked when I was told it was MGS.

Knowing nothing about it and the opthamologist we saw had never seen it I was sent home with no information and told to "google" for more info. Not the best feeling when you have just been told your child is blind in one eye...

Any way I went through some other avenues and found another opthamologist in the city who confirmed that he had MGS and that he is likely to have less than 10% vision in that eye.
We haven't been given much more information on what else we can do like patching, other than waiting until he is older and can tell us what he can and can't see.

I recently took him to see a paediatrician for other things who was very helpful regarding the issue and has recommeded us to take him and have an MRI and MRA based on advise given by a neurological paediatrician. Still unsure how we feel about this as he would have to have a general and he's only 12 months.

We would love to hear from anyone who has had either test or a child that has had either or both and if they feel it was of benefit at all. We have been told that it would be good as there has been some link with stroke and it provides a lot more information that just "looking in the eye"

We would also love to hear from other people in Australia if you are out there.

Apart from all of this our son is otherwise very happy and healthy, reaching all the usual milestones for his age, and seems very happy and content. We find comfort in the fact that he wont know any different and know the best thing we can do is give him as much love a confidence for him to grow and live a happy, healthy life.
:)

Re: Morning Glory Syndrome

I have a 9 year old daughter who has a morning glory in both eyes she also has nystagmus and is registered blind but the morning glory was only found a year ago, really don't know how they missed it as she has been under the eye department at the hospital since she's 1, she's a strong little girl who try's to reach her full potential in life considering her eyesight.

Re: Morning Glory Syndrome

Hello, I'm so glad to see so many comments and information on morning glory syndrome because I have a son, he's four months old and was diagnosed with it two weeks ago. He has it in both eyes. Is there any books on this or any good eye institutes where I can get more information?

Re: Morning Glory Syndrome

Hi I just want you to know not to be scared if you or your child gets diagnosed with mgs. I was diagnosed at 4 with mgs in my left eye and I am now 17. Mgs doesn't hold your child back in any way physically. I have severe blindness in my left eye and I have still played every sport there probably is and drive and I actually see 3d movies. The only bad part is the glasses if you have to wear them because they are annoying. But like everyone has said, it doesn't limit your abilities, I can play sports and now am going to college.

Re: Morning Glory Syndrome

Hi

This is a message coming all the way from Scotland in the UK. I was diagnosed with MGS when I was a baby and am now 29 and to be honest it hasn't really held me back. I remember going to the eye hospital with my mum and gran and being given a patch to wear and it must have worked because i do not have a squint and believe it or not I am the only one in my family who does not wear glasses (although I my mum was told when I was a baby I may be short sighted when I was older and now I think this is starting to happen as I approach 30) . The only problems I get is when I need to switch lanes when I am driving and need to turn into the right hand lane from the left (remember in the UK we drive on the opposite side of the road) and obviously when I close my right eye 'good eye' the vision in my left is not great, its hard to describe, but weirdly one day I was playing with my friends wee baby and put a thin scarf over my face (we were play hide and seek) and I noticed that the vision in my left eye where I have MGS was much better, as in a I could see much more clearly.

I only looked up stuff on the internet about MGS this year and agree with most people in this forum that there is not much at all about, so for those of you have children who has been diagnosed I can only share my story which has been it has not affected my life greatly as i have never known any different. I went to university, have a good job, nice car, nice flat (apartment) and am getting married this year, so all in all a pretty average life which is no bad thing.

Weirdly my financee has a condition called microtia (an underdeveloped ear in her left side) so considering my left is where the MGS is we have wondered if our kids would what we have or be totally free of our conditions, hopefully the latter

Re: Morning Glory Syndrome

I'm Meghan, and I live in Colorado Springs. I'm seventeen years old, and I was diagnosed with Morning Glory Syndrome in my right eye when I was three.

I have so much respect for everyone who has posted in this forum, truly. I haven't found much of anything helpful or reassuring until I've seen this, and I'm going to look at the links people have posted after writing this.

I was living in, I believe Kansas at the time I was Diagnosed, my doctor sent my family and myself to a hospital in San Antonio to officially diagnose as well as treat an over sized lymph node on my neck. I, like all of you or your children, did the treatment with the patches, and wore glasses.
When I was younger, I had absolutely no problem with it. I lived a completely normal life, played soccer for six years, and had no problems. One day when I was about 9 or 10 or so, I went to a lock down at my local skating rink, and a group of teenagers made fun of me for my eye. It bothered me a lot, and I cried, but I obviously had no choice other than to just suck it up, so I did so. I moved to Colorado when I was around 13. Around that age, no one really said anything, but I eventually realized how much I hated it, so I now wear my hair/bangs completely over my right (mgs) eye, and have been doing so for four years straight now. I NEVER go out in public without it covered. It is my biggest insecurity, and I honestly am not happy at all. I cry about it very so often, and have very low self esteem because of it, I feel very unfortunate and sad about having this happen to me. I have many, many other personal problems, but I feel they wouldn't be as bad if I didn't have this problem. The recent years have been worse, I don't want to live the rest of my life with my hair in my face like this, I can't get a job like this, or completely come out of my shell like this, or change my hairstyles because of it. I fear that it will lead me to fear of never being successful in life, and eventually ending it all, as weak as that sounds. And that's why I say I have respect for you people, I really do.
I will never be completely happy living like this. AND, to make things clear, I am not ashamed or very disappointed in the fact that I can't see, or watch 3D movies, MY personal problem is the lazy eye. That's all I want, is to not have my eye drift.
My doctors have told me of the corrective surgery to have, that can make it not drift, and they said that it may have to be redone, but in 10-15 years after. So, seeing as how some of you who have had surgery and it not be a success, really just.. disappoints me more than anything else in the world.

I would highly appreciate it if anyone could contact me on more information about this, if you have it or know anything further to help me out, I would be forever grateful.

Re: Morning Glory Syndrome

I am 26 and I was diagnosed with Morning Glory Syndrome very shortly after birth. My left eye turned in severely so I was sent to an ophthalmologist who looked in my eye and immediately referred me to an ophthalmologist at the university. I had eye straightening surgery 22 years ago and is still successful. My retina did eventually detach and I am blind in my left eye. But this HAS NOT stopped me from doing anything. I played every sport growing up and drove when I was 16. I can not stress enough how important it is to have an ophthalmologist and a retinal specialist who are familiar with the syndrome. I still see these doctors whom I have seen since I was born. Please feel free to ask me any questions.

Re: Morning Glory Syndrome

I have a 2 1/2 year old daughter that was diagnosed with MGS at 5 moths old she was diagnosed through a pediatric Nero Ophthalmologist. Then she was checked to make sure she had no brain abnormalities or blood vessel defects which were we told are part of this syndrome. She wears glasses and has since 8 months old for both protection and a vision correction. Her right eye is affected with MGS and she has nystagmus and astigmatism in her left eye. She is doing well but does have balance issues and some other developmental delays that may or may not be cause by the MGS. Good luck with your daughter and know that in the past 2 1/2 years most people have no idea about her eyes and just think she a cute little girl!

Re: Morning Glory Syndrome

Hi i posted last year. I'm now 17 and my right eye is still blind (is improving though, very slowly). I have a lazy right eye as well. I do admit getting picked on for having MGS does hurt, i did not have any friends until the 3rd grade. i now have alot of friends (most became friends during middle or highschool.i got picked on a lot, but because i didnt have sight in my right eyemy sight in my left eye was much better then normal people. i have also learned to be able use the general size of objects to determine depth and i have a very strong periphial vision. One time my family was in the car and my uncle said there was a baby walking alone on the side of the road alone. everybody turned there head to see but the baby was gone and my uncle didnt see where the baby went. we turn around to see if my uncle wasnt crazy. we were passing a house and my family couldnt see it but i saw the baby was about 500ft from the road behind someones house (looked almost abandoned) and it got its head stuck between the handle bars of a lawn mower. i told my family and we went back and sure enough i was right so we help the baby out of the handlebar and called 911 and the baby was fine. the officer said i probably saved the baby's life. So because i had MGS i saved a baby's life. That made everything worth it, all the pain from being made fun of and everything, saving a life was definatly worth it. Some people still make fun of me but i dont care what other people think anymore.

Re: Morning Glory Syndrome

I don’t have the same eye condition that you have but I have seen the benefits of my vision loss from time to time. It is funny to say that because of all the challenges and negatives you hear around being blind and visually impaired. I remember one time in my office building we had a fire on the roof and I went for the stair case to go down and out the building. I did not realize that the stairwells were totally dark and my sighted co-workers could not see their way down. I was able to give them some mobility techniques to safely go down the stairs. I also stopped and talked while banging my cane so they could hear me as we descended. Everyone was glad that I was there to help. Blindness does come in handy at times! Smile.

Re: Morning Glory Syndrome

My son 11 y.o. was just diagnosed MGS. The specialist said that there is nothing we can do and he did not even prescribe eye glasses. I feel very frustrated. Does somebody know about some treatment that would help him. Did anybody heard about Vision Therapy? would that work for MGS? I am devastated, I cannot stop crying. My son also has ASD and bad allergies.
Please help with information.'Thanks