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Color blindness is not a form of blindness at all, but a deficiency in the way you see color. In colorblind people, certain colors struggle to be distinguished, such as blue and yellow or red and green.
Color blindness is an inherited condition that affects males more frequently than females. Red-green color deficiency is the most common form of color blindness. Rarely, a person may inherit a trait that weakens their ability to see blue and yellow hues. This blue-yellow color deficiency usually affects men and women equally.
What Causes Colorblindness?
Colorblindness is a genetic condition caused by a difference in how one or more of the light-sensitive cells found in the retina of the eye respond to certain colors. These cells, called cones, sense wavelengths of light, and enable the retina to distinguish between colors.
These defects are due to a partial or complete lack of cones in the retina. Cones help you to distinguish the colors red, green, and blue. Other color vision problems that occur later in life are a result of:
- Trauma
- Disease
- Toxic effects of drugs
- Metabolic disease
- Vascular disease
Symptoms of Colorblindness
- Trouble seeing colors and brightness if colors the typical way
- Inability to tell the difference between shades of the same or similar colors.
- Trouble in telling the difference between red and green, or blue and yellow.
Nonetheless, colorblindness does not affect the sharpness of vision. This rare condition is often associated with a lazy eye and light sensitivity.
What are the Risk Factors of Colorblindness?
Men are at much higher risk for being born with color blindness than women, who seldom have the problem. Color blindness is more common among men of Northern European descent. Other risk factors are:
- Glaucoma
- Diabetes
- Macular degeneration
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Parkinsons disease
- Chronic alcoholism
- Sickle cell anemia
- Leukemia
How to Diagnose Colorblindness?
The test consists of showing you a pattern made up of multi-colored dots. If you do not have a color deficiency, you will be able to see numbers and shapes among the dots. The pattern will be more difficult to recognize if you are color blind. You may not see anything in the pattern at all.
Treatment for Colorblindness
Unfortunately, there is no treatment for this condition as it does not cause harmful disability. However, there are innovative contact lenses and eyeglasses that yu can use to see colors. Colorblindness that is induced by glaucoma, diabetes, and other risk factors are treated by some optical solutions. You can use:
