- Albinism is the congenital absence of any pigmentation or coloration in a person, animal, or plant, resulting in white hair and pink eyes in mammals.
- One in 17,000 persons have albinism
- In order to get albinism both parents must be carriers of the gene
- Most people with albinism have grey or blue eyes and a few have red or pink.
- People with albinism have low vision and some are legally blind and this can not be corrected with glasses or contacts.
- People with albinism are allowed to spend time outside they just have to use lots of sunscreen, sunglasses, and hats to prevent sunburns.
- In Zimbabwe, belief that sex with an albinistic woman will cure a man of HIV has led to rapes (and subsequent HIV infection).
- A number of people with albinism have become famous, including historical figures such as Emperor Seinei of Japan, and Oxford don William Archibald Spooner; actor-comedian Victor Varnado; musicians such as Johnny and Edgar Winter, Salif Keita, Winston "King Yellowman" Foster, Brother Ali, Sivuca, Willie "Piano Red" Perryman; and fashion model Connie Chiu.
- There have also been some famed albino animals, including Migaloo, a humpback whale off the coast of Australia; Snowflake, a gorilla from a zoo in Barcelona; Snowdrop, a Bristol Zoo penguin; a pink dolphin in Louisiana and the sperm whale Mocha Dick, the inspiration for Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick.
- The eyes of an albino animal appear red because the colour of the red blood cells in the underlying retinal blood vessels shows through where there is no pigment to obscure it.
Albinism fast facts
