A baby's "beautiful big blue eyes" which were complimented by everyone - turned out to be symptom of a condition causing blindness.<br /><br />Louise Bice, 34, was stunned when her daughter, Aretria, 10 months, was born with big blue eyes - a trait nobody else in the family had.<br /><br />Her "beautiful" eyes would see the tot complimented "six or seven times every day" by strangers - which Louise loved.<br /><br />But at six months old, in May 2023, one of Aretria's baby blues turned "milky" and any light caused the tot to scream in pain.<br /><br />Louise and her partner, Connor Bice, 29, a chartered accountant, thought their youngest daughter might have hit her eye with a toy.<br /><br />But the family were told Aretria had a severe case of bilateral congenital glaucoma - a genetic abnormality which saw extreme and growing pressure on the optic nerve.<br /><br />Her much-loved big eyes actually required urgent surgery.<br /><br />Tiny Aretria had a four-hour surgery at Birmingham Children's Hospital, in June to relieve the pressure - but follow-up tests showed it had failed.<br /><br />She had a second surgery in August and her parents are awaiting the results - although the tot has lost almost 100 per cent of her vision in one eye already.<br /><br />Mum Louise wants to warn other parents to look for the symptoms - and to not assume big eyes are "beautiful" when they could be a sign of something more serious.<br /><br />Louise, a stay-at-home mum, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, said: "I never expected Ari's big, beautiful eyes to be a bad thing.<br /><br />"Suddenly one day her eye clouded over - one minute it was fine and 15 minutes later it was completely changed.<br /><br />"Specialists had to do horrific tests on her and I learned she had already lost some vision in both eyes.<br /><br />"After two surgeries we still don't know what will happen - she already has just five per cent vision left in her right eye.<br /><br />"She's in so much pain and I don't know if she can cope with another surgery.<br /><br />"I just think if we had managed to get this diagnosed before the pressure got out of control, she might not now be blind in one eye.<br /><br />"If someone had said it was weird, she had big eyes rather than cute we might have got it checked - but none of us knew it was even a red flag."<br /><br />After Aretria was born on October 20, 2022, her big eyes had become a source of many compliments from friends and family.<br /><br />Her parents even lovingly likened their little one to a cartoon bug, thinking nothing of it.<br /><br />Even doctors and health visitors thought they were sweet - and nobody mentioned any risks.<br /><br />But on May 20, Louise popped to the shop and when she returned 15 minutes later one of her daughter's eyes was clouded.<br /><br />Louise said: "Connor sent me a picture that morning of the two of them together while I was out and her eyes were fine.<br /><br />"When I got back her right eye had clouded over.<br /><br />"I hadn't even got through the door when I said 'we need to take her to A&E right now'."<br /><br />They went to their local hospital, King's Mill, Mansfield, then were sent to Chesterfield Royal Hospital, Derbyshire, where
