Osteogenesis Imperfecta [Archive] - Japan Forum

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RavenRockstar
Aug 22, 2009, 21:33
Has anyone heard of it?
For a long time I wondered why the whites of my eyes look different from most other people's. While the whites of most people eyes are white, mine have a slight, but definate blue tint. I had come to the conclusion that it was some trick of the light, maybe reflecting off my blue irises.
I just got back (like yesterday) from visiting my family in Texas (who I havent seen in about six or seven years because my dead-beat mom dropped contact with my father and I) were I noticed that my cousin also had slightly blue-tinted whites, and she has brown eyes. I then took it upon myself to exmine the whites of all of my family's eyes. Turns out, everyone who is biologically related to my Meemaw ( my grandma ^^) have the blue tint, though my sister's is much fainter than eveyone elses.
So I asked my aunt if she knew anyting about it. Apparently, a rare disease runs in our family, called Osteogenesis Imperfecta. One sign of it is the blue tinted whites. Just because someone has the gene, however, doesnt mean it will manifest. No one in my generation manifests any of the symptoms, except the blue tints.
However, my Meemaw DOES manifest the symptoms, namely, extremely brittle bones. In the past two years she's broken 7 bones simply from bumping into things and the like.
Apprently, it often skips generations and sexes, so if my cousin, my sister, or I were to have children, especially a boy, they would probably be born with extremly brittle bones. lot of the time, children born with this condition die during birth becuse all of their bones get crushed.
So Im a tiny bit disturbed and concerened now :kanashii:

nice gaijin
Aug 23, 2009, 01:50
brittle bone syndrome is tough, I had a friend as a kid that had it quite bad (but not the most severe type), and he had a very small body and was confined to a motorized wheelchair. It's a very tough thing to live with. Since it's a genetic disorder, I believe you can screen for it during pregnancy, or perhaps through in vitro fertilization to select ovaries that won't pass the gene on. I'm sure suggesting such a thing might catch me flak, but this is one disorder that deserves to be selected out of the gene pool, as it's extremely trying for the child and those around them. Sounds like your grandmother has a particularly mild case, all things considered.

PS: There are multiple possible reasons for bluish schlera-- http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=93

RavenRockstar
Aug 27, 2009, 08:10
Yeah apparently my mothe had to get tests done before I was born to make sure it was safe to give birth to me
I kinda wonder why no one ever told me