Arizona baby boy born without eyes, doctor says condition is extremely rare (VIDEO)

A baby boy who was born at Banner Desert Medical Centre in Mesa, Arizona has no eyes, but his parents have faith that future medical developments may one day allow him to see.

Kelly Lopez, the mother of Richie Lopez who is now 3 months, says she had a completely normal pregnancy. Her ultrasounds never hinted her son would be born without eyes.

Staff at Banner Desert Medical Center initially thought Richie's face was merely swollen when he was born. Richie's mother, Kelley, who had a normal pregnancy with ultrasounds that found no problems, became worried when Richie failed to open his eyes. An MRI scan 13 days after his birth found that he was born without eyes, according to KTLA.

"I think we were just in shock. Obviously very upsetting," she told 3TV. "The first thought through your mind is, how did this even happen and how was it not even caught?"

But she and her husband, who are from Mesa, Arizona, are optimistic that science will progress enough to help Richie, who does have an optic nerve, see in his lifetime.

The three-month-old had surgery to be fitted with expanders in his sockets, so that they will grow enough to hold a prosthetic eyeball in the future.

Doctors say the condition called Anophthalmia is extremely rare.

Richie now wears baby sunglasses, as the family has discovered people can make insensitive comments.

Richie does have an optic nerve, which gives them hope that someday, with advances in medicine, he'll be able to see.

Anophthalmia is a medical term that means an absence of the eye - and a child may be born with one, or both eyes, missing from the eye socket. The terms Anophthalmia and Microphthalmia (small eyes) are often used interchangeably since CT scans or MRI show some remnants of either the globe or surrounding tissue in most cases.

The condition is extremely rare and a report from a prospective study of 50,000 newborns found an incidence of microphthalmia of 0.22 per 1,000 live births.

Watch the video to see what is being done to help  Richie Lopez.