When I went to the Louisiana Center for the Blind, there were two other young adult students who had the same eye condition as me: Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis or LCA. The three of us became friends, and would joke about being part of an exclusive “club.”
During one of our class discussions, one of the guys with LCA mentioned that he used to press on his eyes when he was a baby. This caught my attention. Eye pressing (also known as eye poking or, in clinical terms, the oculo-digital reflex) involves pressing one’s fingers, knuckles or fist against one’s eye. It’s a common topic of discussion among parents of blind babies and children, particularly those with LCA and related retinal conditions. Appearing early in infancy, eye pressing may be one of the first hints that a baby is blind, as it was in my own case.