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Nykt, Night Alaos, blindness
Nyctalopia Nyctalopia or "night blindness," is a visual disorder
characterized by the difficulty or impossibility to see in low light conditions
The images that we see day by day are formed thanks to the light that crosses the Cornea
The Pupil is the responsible to filter the amount of light that arrives to the Lens,
and that finally impact on the Retina
The Retina is a light-sensitive tissue composed by interconnected neuron layers
It is like a screen where the images will be projected and become nerve impulses, which will be send to the brain trough the Optic Nerve
In the Retina we can find the Cones and the
Rods, two photoreceptors, which means that are light-sensitive cells
Cones are adapted to bright light and provide us the color vision. By contrast, Rods work
in dim light and provide us the black and white vision
To be able to see during night, known as night vision, its required the presence of a special
protein in the rods stacked disks This protein, the Rhodopsin, is a visual pigment
that absorbs light in dim light conditions and derivates from the Vitamin A
For that reason one of the possible causes of developing Nyctalopia is the deficiency
of Vitamin A in our organism This fact mainly happens in countries with
high malnutrition taxes Approximately 350.000 children start developing
night blindness every year due to Vitamin A deficiency in the Southeast of Asia and
Africa In this cases, Nyctalopia can be treated establishing
a food diet rich in Vitamin A enabling the Rods to have enough Rhodopsin
to absorb the light properly This is a good example of how the research and knowledge of the brain and it's related structures
Can have a high impact in our daily life In that case, knowing the importance of the Vitamin A in the night vision
can help us to treat a visual disorder as Nyctalopia