# Are there graduations of albinism or is it more an albino/non-albino dichotomy?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-graduations-of-albinism-or-is-it-more-an-albino-non-albino-dichotomy/349001>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 19, 2006, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-graduations-of-albinism-or-is-it-more-an-albino-non-albino-dichotomy/349001 "2006-03-19T15:16:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-graduations-of-albinism-or-is-it-more-an-albino-non-albino-dichotomy/349001/1 "2006-03-19T15:16:59Z")

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Are there gradual stages of paleness leading to being a full albino or is it mostly that you’re an albino, or not an albino, kind of thing?

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**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-graduations-of-albinism-or-is-it-more-an-albino-non-albino-dichotomy/349001/2 "2006-03-19T15:55:22Z")

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Well, it depends what you mean by “full” albino. There are different “grades” but to be classified as an albino you need to have the eyesight problems that albinism causes so the answer is sort of yes to both.

[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albinism) has a fair bit of information explained better than I can, mostly because I’ve forgotten most of it. A lot of people don’t know about the vision problems associated with albinism but there is more to it than just having no pigment. It is possible to have normal skin and hair and still have albinism, as long as your eyes are affected. How this happens precisely I don’t remember but it’s something about the retina and optic nerve not developing properly.

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**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-graduations-of-albinism-or-is-it-more-an-albino-non-albino-dichotomy/349001/3 "2006-03-19T16:27:19Z")

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There are different kinds of albinism because albinism can be caused by mutations in different genes.

There’s a kind of albinism among black people called rufous albinism, which only affects only the production of brown melanin. Individuals with this condition have reddish skin and red hair, but they are still technically albinos because they don’t produce brown pigments.