Saturday, July 9, 2011

Vision problems due to Albanism

Did you know people with Albinism suffer from vision problems as well? "Albinism is a defect of melanin production that results in little or no color (pigment) in the skin, hair, and eyes." I enjoy watching television shows that are both entertaining and informative able. One particular show on "MTV" is called True Life in which young people are filmed in real life situations. The one on Albinism consisted of three young people who suffered from Albinism and their eye sight interfered with a want or desire that they wanted to overcome. One girl had a desire to be a movie star but she worried her Nystagamus in which her eyes would occasionally move from side to side at any given time and would stop her dream. Another, young boy was a football star but did not want his vision to stop him from achieving a football scholarship to college. The last, a young boy who wanted to get his license and drive independently without his mother fear of him getting hurt on the road due to his poor vision. What happens in these instances is that their bodies are not able to make melanin which gives color to the iris of their eyes. Ocular Albinism type ! specifically only effects the eyes and there's no color in back of their retina. Waardenburg Syndrome is another that effects the eye. Some others include Photophobia which is light sensibility. Strabismus which is crossed eyes, and functional blindness. An eye doctor may test someone with Albinism with an electroretinogram test. Some things to do to help with vision problem would be to avoid sun, and UV protected sunglasses that take away some of the light sensitivity away. Lastly, people may even want to go as far as eye muscle surgery. In the series each of the three find ways to deal with their issues one way or another.

youtube video on Albinism and eye vision problems
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnRsDTs_ofw
Shonta' Temple

1 comment:

  1. Interesting. I figured that it would effect eye vision as well. I think i saw that same episode on MTV. Anyway, i bet its hard to deal with albinism, then plus other defects that come along with having albinism.

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