Longitudinal Frequency of Leukocoria in Photographs of Person with Retinal Hemangioblastoma

Leukocoria is the white reflex of the pupil that can be seen in flash photography and is often associated with intraocular diseases. This study was conducted to detect the longitudinal frequency of a patient with a diagnosed retinal hemangioblastoma by collecting 3,846 facial photographs from birth year of 1999 to 2021. Pictures of the patient were individually tagged as pathologic leukocoria or non-leukocoric in both the right and left eye using the computer application Pixave. Metadata from each photograph was then extracted using Photos Metadata Export to determine the original date of each photograph, if flash was present and the presence or absence of leukocoria. Of the 3,598 facial photos tagged of the patient, classification of a leukocoric pupil was found in 158 photographs over a span of 22 years. Leukocoria was found in 151 photographs of the patient’s right eye and 7 photographs of the patient’s left eye. The right eye accounted for 95.6% of the total leukocoria detected. The percentage of leukocoria increased significantly in 2014 at 5.17% remaining present and increasing to 10.82% in 2021. The findings are consistent with the patient’s diagnosis of a unilateral retinal hemangioblastoma in the right eye.