A curious thing started happening, Nash’s hair has started changing colour. I say curious because I didn’t think this could happen to a person with albinism. The featured image shows the darker areas of Nash’s hair at the roots. We knew the type of albinism he has means he has some pigment but I just assumed his hair would be a brilliant bright blonde all of his life. I was furiously rooting around in his hair the other day and came across several dark strands of hair.

A few weeks or possibly months ago another mum of a person with albinism asked the question on Facebook that I had been thinking: Can my child’s hair get darker? Many people responded and answered yes to the question. I wish I had saved the post due to the interesting responses it created. I even tried researching it more online and came up empty the only answer I got was this one from sharecare.com:  “Changes in skin, eye, and hair color depends on the type of albinism the person has, as well as on the individual. For example, some people with OCA 1 start making melanin in childhood or adolescence so their skin, eye, and hair color may change somewhat. Other people with OCA 1 do not start making melanin, and so there is no change in skin, eye, or hair pigmentation. Some types of albinism, such as X-linked, do not tend to affect skin tone as much as vision”.

I keep wondering: If his hair is developing more pigment are his eyes developing more pigment or do the eyes stay the same? If it doesn’t stay the same and indeed his eyes do get darker does this affect his vision? I suppose these are all questions to put forward to the Ophthalmologist although the problem with albinism is that even the “experts” aren’t 100% versed in understanding it. I may have to start my own little experiment and take a photograph of his hair and possibly eyes each day over the next several months and see where we end up hopefully, I can keep him still for long enough.

Featured image – Back of Nash’s blonde curls.