What eye color does an albino person have: influence on type

Interesting facts about people with albinism

There are several incredible facts about albinos:

Like other people, albinos live long lives without health problems. The danger of the disease lies in a single factor: skin cancer may appear. It appears from solar radiation when the skin is not protected.
Albinos generally have pink and red eyes. But besides this, the iris often acquires a gray color, sometimes blue and brown.
Albinos often suffer from several types of visual impairment, this includes the appearance of poor vision, the eyes begin to move on their own. This phenomenon is called nystagmus. These people often have excessive sensitivity to light, which is called photophobia.
If the form of albinism is less severe, with age a person experiences darkening of white hair and skin.
Albino people are perceived with difficulty by society; they often suffer persecution and bullying. People think that these people carry a curse, or that they have healing properties in certain parts of their bodies.
The disease is divided into several types, one of them is Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome. People with such disorders suffer from bleeding, bruising, and pulmonary diseases are more common.
Albinism is not a disease, but an anomaly that is inherited. Therefore, it is impossible to become infected with the disease through close contact; it is not transmitted even through blood transfusion and cannot be contracted through airborne droplets.
In the eyes of people with albinism, low levels of melanin cause increased sensitivity to light during the day. But at night they manage to see everything that glows.

Social prejudices

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According to statistics, albino children are 6 times more likely to be born to Africans than to Europeans. Scientists still cannot find an explanation for this. For example, here is an African mother holding her snow-white child:

It is believed that for every 3,000 dark-skinned people there is 1 albino .

But even more often, albinos are born among the Kuna Indian tribe who live in Panama . Here, every 150th child has white hair, thin skin and transparent eyelashes.

Interesting!

In African Tanzania, they believed that albino people had literally healing flesh. They were hunted, killed, and then sold to shamans and sorcerers for huge sums. The most shocking thing is that superstition has such great power over people that albinos are still hunted. And only in 2009, the killers of albinos, who had not even been prosecuted by law before, were convicted for the first time. Now hunters do not kill their victims, but cut off their arms or legs, selling everything to the same sorcerers.

Why do albinos have red eyes?

The normal iris of the organ of vision contains a substance that has coloring properties, thanks to which individual parts of the body are painted in certain colors. Light skin color appears from a dye that could not form in time. Because of this, the hair is also light and against this background the eyes appear red.

Albinos have red eyes, this is expressed due to the fact that blood is reflected in the choroid plexuses located in the retina. The vascular fundus of the organ of vision is translucent, since there is no pigment.

There are albino animals that are more likely to have red eyes. Genetic defect is divided into 2 types:

cutaneous-ocular – which affects the eyes and skin;
ocular - it concerns only the organs of vision.

Many people believe that all albinos have red eyes, no, this opinion is erroneous. The iris of the organ of vision is colored due to the presence of a pigment substance - melanin. Not all people with albinism are completely without pigment.

In one part of people with disturbed skin color, the organs of vision are completely red, and in the other half, eyes are pink and also violet. But many albinos have a slight blue tint to their eyes.

Attention! Low melanin content is not always considered a disorder or defect; it is often an advantage for such people, because at night they are able to see better than ordinary people.

Establishing diagnosis

The exact type of albinism is not always easy to diagnose. This often requires a thorough study of family history and examination of not only the patient, but also his close relatives.

In the early 2000s, a blood test was developed that helps identify gene carriers for some types of albinism. A similar test during amniocentesis can detect the disease in an unborn baby. Also, albinism can be detected as early as the fifth week of pregnancy using chorionic villus sampling.

There are two main tests:

Hair follicle pigmentation test

This method is based on incubating hair in a solution of tyrosine, a substance that the body uses to produce melanin.

Darkening of the hair during the test means melanin production (positive result). If the hair remains light, it means there is no melanin.

Tyrosinase test

The test is based on the rate at which hair converts the amino acid tyrosine into another chemical (3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine), which then turns into pigment.

Treatment of albinism in children

Melanin deficiency cannot be cured. Doctors can only correct the patient’s condition, including eye diseases, by prescribing:

glasses/corrective lenses;
tools to improve visual acuity - magnifiers, monoculars (hand-held telescopes used for only one eye) or bioptics (glasses with small telescopic lenses mounted in standard lenses).

To relieve discomfort from the large amount of incoming light, lenses are often darkened.

Texts with large print may be recommended for reading to albino children, depending on the severity of their vision problems.

Strabismus can be treated in infancy with eye patches, drug injections, or surgery.

Patients with albinism should avoid excessive sun exposure, especially between 10am and 2pm, and wear long sleeves and trousers whenever possible. If exposure cannot be avoided, use a sunscreen with at least 30 SPF.

Types of albinism

Albinism is divided into several types.

The most common is oculocutaneous albinism. It applies to severe cases. At the same time, throughout life, hair and skin remain white.

Darkening of the hair and skin is observed in people who have a less severe form of the disease.

In addition to the listed factors, disturbances in the form of erythrism are noticed. In this case, high red pigmentation appears. There is also xanthism - pronounced yellow pigmentation and vitiligo - it is due to the fact that pigmentation is lost in some areas of the skin.

Uniqueness in everything

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However, despite considerable health problems and society’s ambiguous attitude towards them, many albinos consider themselves unique . And so do we.

Albino children look like fairy tale characters. They seem to glow from within and amaze with the amazing, almost magical beauty of their eyes and hair.

Many of them become famous precisely because of their appearance. Albinos have successful modeling careers, star in films and attract public attention.

Just look at the photos of albino children, you can’t take your eyes off their beauty:

How to treat the disease

This disease cannot be cured. The lack of melanin substance cannot be restored or the cells can be forced to work in a different direction. A sick person should not be in the sun for a long time or use sunscreen.

Be sure to wear safety glasses or use tinted lenses. Surgery is needed to change the extraocular muscles if this is necessary for strabismus. For preventive purposes, it is necessary to visit doctors to prevent the development of a hereditary factor.

Birth of albino children

How can you understand that a newborn is an albino? In children, light skin is immediately visible to the extent that it appears transparent. The hair color seems gray, the eyebrows and eyelashes are the same. Some people with this condition have eyes that are light blue or no color, in which case they appear red.

The disease albinism has several forms; it can be revealed in full or in part. In the complete absence of pigment, children differ sharply from healthy people; their whole body is white and their eyes and hair are white. With partial, only the eyes become white. It is difficult for such children to be in society; they often hear that they are black sheep.

Diagnostics

The main diagnostic method for identifying albinism is the study of DNA materials. When analyzing DNA, sections of chromosomes are isolated to identify gene mutations. When ocular albinism is determined, the patient is prescribed an electroretinogram. It may be necessary to submit the material for chemical hair analysis.

Albino people are also advised to regularly visit a dermatologist and ophthalmologist. All family members need to donate blood for diagnosis. Also, when examining under special conditions, the polymerase chain reaction method is used.

In most cases, albinism is obvious at birth. Health care providers may examine the baby's hair, skin, and eyes to look for signs of missing pigment, such as white hair or pale gray eyes.