A Different Perspective: What is Color Blindness?
The inability to perceive colors or color blindness is a generally hereditary disability that impairs someone's ability to differentiate among color tones. Color blindness is caused by a deficiency in the cones in the eye's retina, commonly damaging a viewer's capability to distinguish between varieties of green or red, but it can adversely affect the perception of additional hues too.
The discernment of different hues depends on the cones located in the eye's macula. Humans are usually born with three types of cones, each perceiving different wavelengths of color. This is similar to the wavelengths of sound. When it comes to pigment, the length of the wave is directly connected to the resulting color. Long waves generate red tones, middle-sized waves produce green tones and short waves produce blue tones. Which type of cone is affected has an impact on the nature and severity of the color deficiency.
Being a sex-linked recessive trait, many more males are green-red color blind than females. Still, there are a number of women who do suffer varying degrees of color vision deficiency, particularly yellow-blue color blindness.
There are many cases where individuals acquire color vision deficiencies later in life as a result of another condition including macular degeneration, cataracts and glaucoma. Thankfully, it could be possible to restore color vision if the underlying cause is corrected.
Optometrists use a number of tests for the condition. The most widely used is the Ishihara color test, called after its designer. For this test a patient views a plate with a circle of dots in differing sizes and colors. Inside the circle one with proper color vision can see a numerical figure in a particular shade. The patient's ability to make out the number within the dots of clashing tones determines the level of red-green color blindness.
Although hereditary color vision deficiencies can't be treated, there are some options that can help to make up for it. Some evidence shows that using colored contacts or anti-glare glasses can help to see the differences between colors. Increasingly, computer programs are becoming available for common computers and even for smaller machines that can help people distinguish color better depending on their particular condition. There is also promising research being conducted in gene therapy to improve the ability to distinguish colors.
How much color blindness limits an individual is dependent upon the kind and degree of the deficiency. Some individuals can accommodate to their condition by learning substitute cues for colored objects or signs. For example, they can learn the order of traffic signals or compare items with reference objects like the blue sky or green plants.
If you notice signs that you or a family member might be color blind it's important to get tested by an eye doctor. The earlier a diagnosis is made, the easier it will be to live with. Feel free to call our Reno, NV eye doctors for information about scheduling an exam.
