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Albinism is a very serious disease that could end up in death. Albinism is a
recessive inherited defect in melanin, which is metabolism in which pigment is
absent from skin, hair, and eyes. Albinism in hair, skin, and eyes is called
oculocutaneous albinism. Humans that have oculocotaneous albinism are not able
to produce melanin. These people have white, yellow, or yellow brown hair, very
light ( usually blue ) eyes, and very pale skin. Their eyes may appear pink
because they have very little pigment.
Albinism just in the eyes is called ocular albinism. Which is a dark biological
pigment that is formed as an end product of the metabolism of the amino and
tyrosine.
People with ocular albinism, which only the eye lacks melanin pigment, while
everything else appears normal. People who have this have a variety of the eye
disorders because of the lack of pigment impairs normal eye development. These
effected are extremely sensitive to bright light. Treatment for ocular albinism
includes the use of visual aids and surgery for strabismus.
Albinism is very rare in humans. There is a one to seventeen thousand chance
that a person will have Albinism. Because of albinism if a person with the
disease is exposed to ultraviolet rays they get very sick or get cancer.
Albinism occurs in all races, from white, black, to asian. Regardless of skin
color the people are still paler than normal people. Their hair is white and
they have pinkish red eyes.
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There is another type of albinism which is called Hermansk-Pudlak syndrome. In
the is type of the disease there could be problems with bleeding, and with lung
and bowel disease as well. This is a very rare and uncommon type of albinism.
For almost all types of Albinism both parents or mates must carry an albinism
gene in order for their child to have albinism. Because the body has two sets
of genes, a person may have normal pigmentation but carry the albinism gene. If
a person has one normal gene and one albinism gene that is still enough to pass
the disease on to their children. Even if both parents have the albinism gene
it does not mean they have the sickness. The baby will have a one out of four
chance of getting the disease. This is inherited by autosomal recessive
inheritance.
Albinism is a really horrible disease to have. It can be life threatening in
some conditions. People who have really bad cases of albinism have to stay
inside, live in a “space suit”, or have to wear sunglasses even while inside.
Albinism thought rare is easy to find in people. All someone has to do to find
out if they have albinism is get an eye exam or a blood test. The testing
procedures are very simple. The bad thing about albinism the worse you have the
less chance you have a getting it cured.