A Report on...

By A.T.

Albinism is a genetic disease that occurs in one out of about seventeen-thousand. The symptoms will be described later. For a genetic disease, thats neither very rare nor very common. Even still, a normal dictionary only had the word albino, or someone infected with albinism, it didnt have albinism. It said,

Albino- 1. a person lacking pigment in the skin, hair, and eyes. 2. any animal or plant lacking normal pigmentation.
That is a pretty pathetic definition. So, I am here to elaborate on that definition.

Albinism is caused by a lack of enzymes for unknown reasons. These enzymes are known to convert the amino acid tyrosine into melanin. Melanin is the pigment in your eyes, skin, and hair. Because of this lack of pigment, your skin and eyes become very vulnerable to light.

It only complicates it.

What albinism does do

With an albinos eyes so vulnerable without the protection of pigment, they nearly always experience a vision problem of some sort. They also have eyes colored in shades not found in the average person, such as red and extremely light blue. Although none of these effects are of any major concern, they could become major.

Treatments for eyes

An albino needs special protection to regulate how much light is entering their eyes, as they often become blind. The different shades of eyes? There is no treatment besides surgery, however that is only cosmetic.

What albinism does to the skin

If you understand that concept with eyes, you should easily understand the concept of skin in albinism. This is because, just like in the eyes, the lack of pigment makes the skin very vulnerable to sunlight.

Someone with albinism is not often seen tanning at the beach. They get sunburn much easier than people not infected. Sunburn, like a different shade of eyes and a minor vision problems, is not a major concern.

Albinos, however must be cautious because skin cancer, along with sunburn, happen much more easily and often.

Treatments for skin

There are no really effective treatments for an albinos skin except staying out of the sun and using sun screen more often than others.

The History
The history of albinism is as great, or horrible, as any other genetic disease. People have known of people with unusually light features for centuries.

Noah, the one with the arc and stuff, has been described in the Bible with the following description: his hair was white as snow, and his eyes like the rays of the sun. Both of these descriptions of his hair and eyes fit the description of an albino.

The term albino was first used by a Portuguese explorer in Africa. In the 1600s, he made a trip to Africa and made an account of white skinned African natives. Using the word albus, which means white in Latin as a guideline, he named these people Albinos.

From before then and after then until just recently, we did not accept these people, with their different colored skin and hair, into society. We said they didnt fit in.

A Summary
Albinism is caused by a lack of melanin, resulting in light skin, hair and nearly always have vision problems. They may experience anything from sunburn to blindness and skin cancer.

1 out of 17,000 people receive this genetic disease. Plants, animals, and people may all receive this disease. Albinos, as Noah proved, are normal people who just look a little different.