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, that’s neither very
rare nor very common. Even still, a
normal dictionary only had the word
albino, or someone infected with
albinism, it didn’t 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 albino’s 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 albino’s 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
1600’s, 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 didn’t “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.