If my father has night blindness, will it be passed down through the generations?

Night blindness, maybe you don't know much about it. In fact, most patients with night blindness are due to vitamin deficiency. So, if the father has night blindness, will it be passed down to the next generation? If night blindness is caused by vitamin deficiency, then generally it is not inherited. But if it is congenital night blindness, then there is a certain probability of inheritance, so everyone should still pay attention.

Temporary night blindness is not hereditary and is caused by a lack of vitamin A in the diet or by certain digestive system diseases that affect the absorption of vitamin A. Treating the digestive system disease and increasing the intake of vitamin A can slowly heal the condition.

Congenital night blindness, the offspring may inherit the disease-causing gene. Congenital night blindness is divided into "congenital static night blindness" and "congenital progressive night blindness". The former is autosomal recessive inheritance. When the disease occurs, rod cells are poorly developed, which will lead to rhodopsin synthesis dysfunction. The latter is caused by recessive disease-causing genes located on the X chromosome. Women will develop the disease only when both X chromosomes have the disease-causing allele. Men will develop the disease as long as the disease-causing gene exists on the X chromosome.

Congenital static night blindness can be inherited from one generation to another. If both parents carry the autosomal pathogenic gene for night blindness, then the child has a 25% chance of being sick. If only one parent, or neither parent, carries the autosomal pathogenic gene for night blindness, then the child will not be inherited from another generation.

Congenital progressive night blindness is only passed down to males. When the mother has a recessive night blindness gene on her X chromosome, the probability of night blindness in the next generation is 25%, and the son born has a 50% chance of night blindness. 3. Temporary night blindness caused by vitamin A deficiency will not be passed down to the next generation.

What is night blindness?

Night blindness, commonly known as "night blindness", is a medical term that refers to the symptom of blurred vision or complete inability to see in dim light or at night, and difficulty in movement. This symptom is generally caused by a lack of vitamin A.

Causes:

1. Temporary night blindness

Due to lack of vitamin A in the diet or certain digestive system diseases affecting the absorption of vitamin A, the retinal rod cells do not have the raw materials to synthesize rhodopsin, causing night blindness. This night blindness is temporary and can be supplemented by eating more pork liver, carrots, cod liver oil, etc., and the deficiency of vitamin A will be cured soon.

2. Acquired night blindness

It is often caused by retinal rod cell malnutrition or its own pathology. It is common in diffuse choroiditis, extensive choroid ischemia and atrophy. This type of night blindness gradually improves with effective treatment and recovery of the disease.

3. Congenital night blindness

It is a congenital genetic eye disease, such as retinal pigment degeneration, which causes rod cells to develop poorly and lose the ability to synthesize rhodopsin, resulting in night blindness.