why PERSON’S WITH ALBINISM have bad eyesight
People who have albinism have little to no pigmentation of the iris. They also lack pigment in the "retinal pigment epithelial" cells that lie between the retina and the choroid. This gives a unique appearance to the retina and makes the underlying blood vessels of the choroid more visible. Since pigment in the eye absorbs light and helps us tolerate most kinds of bright light, the lack of pigment in these structures makes individuals with albinism very sensitive to light, called photosensitivity. Overtime, and overexposure, blindness results.
Additional information, people with albinism also have an underdeveloped fovea. The fovea is the part of the retina responsible for much of visual acuity.
And people with albinism may have misrouting of the visual pathways connecting the eye to the part of the brain responsible for vision. "Misrouting" means that the nerve signals traveling from the retina to the brain do not follow the usual eye-to-brain pathway. These abnormalities result in decreased best-corrected visual acuity, ranging from 20/40 to 20/200. Albinism is non-progressive and visual acuity may improve somewhat until mid-teens, after which it remains fairly stable, unless additional eye conditions develop.
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