Alice in Wonderland Syndrome

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- It's an unusual condition with a colorful name. Kids with Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS) see sudden distortions in objects they're looking at. Things get very large, really tiny, or their own bodies appear to change size. It's a lot like the main character in the Lewis Carroll story.

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

"I would turn and everything started getting blurry and it was like pushing back and everything," Sadie told ABC30.

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

"Patients experience a change in their own body shape." Grant Liu, MD, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told ABC30. "Their hand might get big, or their head might get big."

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is most common in children from age 2 to 13, with the average patient being 6 years old. More girls are affected than boys. Episodes last a few minutes.

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

Dr. Liu said out 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 AIWS shortly after they learn their condition has a name.

"I think it gives children and parents a voice to be able to understand what their kids are going through," Sadie's mother Maria McKinney told ABC30.

Dr. Liu said 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 also said it's likely that many parents never seek medical attention for their child's symptoms, because they go away on their own.

For more information on this report, please contact:

Ashley Moore
Public Relations Specialist
MOOREA1@email.chop.edu
267-426-6050