Alice in Wonderland syndrome distorts vision

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- It's an unusual condition with a colorful name. Kids with "Alice in Wonderland" syndrome see like they're peering into a distorted looking glass.

Things get very large or really tiny, or their own bodies appear to change size, a lot like the main character in the Lewis Carroll story.

Like most kids, Sadie McKinney is full of imagination. She also has a rare neurological condition with a storybook name, but her symptoms are very real.

"I would turn and everything started getting blurry and it was like pushing back and everything," McKinney said.

McKinney suffers from Alice in Wonderland syndrome, a condition where patients see sudden distortions in objects they're looking at. Objects may get very large or tiny or bodies may appear to change in size.

Dr. Grant Liu studies the visual distortions that are part of the syndrome.

"Patients experience a change in their own body shape so their hand might get big, or their head might get big," said Liu, a doctor at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Alice in Wonderland syndrome is most common in children from ages 2 to 13, with the average patient being 6. More girls are affected than boys and episodes last a few minutes.

"We don't really know what causes it. We think it's a dysfunction of the area of brain that governs shape analysis," Liu said.

Of 50 patients seen at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia from 1993 to 2013, 25 percent developed migraines. Otherwise, the condition is harmless.

Most outgrow the syndrome shortly after they learn their condition has a name.

"I think it gives children a voice. It gives parents a voice to be able to understand what their children are going through," Sadie's mother Maria McKinney said.

Liu says doctors may order an MRI in some cases to rule out more serious conditions. There are no statistics to indicate how many children have experienced Alice in Wonderland syndrome. He says it's likely that many parents never seek medical attention for their child's symptoms, because they go away on their own.