Let me Learn You Something

Have you ever seen an albino? Have you ever seen an all white dog or other animal? Or even a person who has that really pale skin, bright blonde hair and pale blue eyes (I call them "what Hitler had in mind" people)? Well, if your answer was no to the first question, but yes to either of the second two, then I have news for you, you have seen an albino. I don't know why this is a subject that intrigues me so much, but you have to admit, it's medically and aesthetically facinating. Albinism is a disease caused by a lack of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes and is because of a lack of ability to create the enzyme in the body that produces melanin.
It also turns out that there can be two types of albinism. One that affects the skin, hair and eyes and one that just affects the eyes. The eye aspect of it is what I find most interesting about this disease for some reason. Albinos can have the bright, pale blue eyes (which is usually just a result of Ocular Albinism), but then, there are the more interesting ones (in my opinion) with the bright red, or dark purple eyes.

I was always drawn to, and frightened by, the redness of an albinos eyes. They're just so intresting! Why their eyes are like that are even more interesting though. You see, because of the lack of pigment, which actually gives us our green, blue or brown eye colors, what you are actually seeing when you look into an albinos eyes is the retna. When there is no pigment, the eye is just a transparent "window to the soul"...literally. So, what you are seeing is not a red pigment, but really a lack of pigment and all the beauty that is behind the eyeball.
Albinism is not just in people, but in animals too. I know your pure white French Bull Dog is so adorable, but it is an albino dog. That goes for all the white snakes, mice and any other pure white oddball animal you've seen or googled in your lifetime.
Unfortunately, a plethera of health problems can accompany albinism. Due to this lack of pigment, albinos cannot be in the sun, at least for very long, without burning. It wont kill the person, but the skins inability to block ultraviolet rays can increase their risk for skin cancer. Their eyes are also so sensitive that usually they cannot be around bright lights. The lack of pigment allows more light to be let into the eye which can damage it. Another common side-effect to the disorder, in both human and animal, is blindness. Not a fun thing to have. Although, albinism is more common than people think, just not the degree of white hair and red eyes.
Well, that is my lesson on albinos. I hope you learned something, or at least realized an intrigue in the subject that there are a lot of cool things out in the world.
There is more than just black and white; there is also really really fucking white.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albinism