Female carriers may have mild symptoms without loss of vision. Major symptoms include a progressive loss of the central field of vision and night blindness during childhood. The retina is the light-sensitive, internal coat of the inside of the eyeball consisting of eight layers. Seven of these layers contain nerves, and one layer contains pigmentation. The choroid contains large branched pigment cells and prevents the passage of light rays through areas of the eye outside of the pupils.
Night blindness is usually the first noticeable symptom, usually occurring during childhood.
Degeneration of the vessels of the choroid and functional damage to the retina occur later in life and usually lead to progressive central vision field loss and eventual blindness. Tiny bony-like tissue formations and scattered pigment clumps tend to accumulate in the middle and on the edges of the choroid. The symptoms of Choroideremia may vary greatly between affected individuals. Female carriers usually have very mild symptoms without vision loss. Human traits including the classic genetic diseases, are the product of the interaction of two genes for that condition, one received from the father and one from the mother.