Color blindness - as the name hints - is a certain kind of disability of the vision to identify some or all of the colors. When a person can’t distinguish only some colors he is said to be partially color blind and he is complete color blind when he cannot tell all the colors. The latter is a rare case, though. Also, such cases most likely suffer from other acute problems relating to the eye.
A child may inherit this ocular disability from a color blind parent or, in some cases, a disease of optic nerve or retina becomes a reason. Genetic color blindness is very prevalent and it has a bearing on both the eyes. But, unlike the one caused by optic nerve or retina disease, it doesn’t deteriorate as the time progresses. Although, such forms are found in both male and female but study shows that men are more prone to genetic color blindness as compared to woman. This fact leads us to the conclusion that, like hemophilia, X chromosomes carries the disease to a male, as – unlike women – they have only one copy of X – Chromosome.
So, this was a big picture, a helicopter-view of what color blindness is, the causes that makes a person suffer from it, how many types are there, how it affects the patient and a few statistics regarding the disease.
Now that the surface is been scratched, let’s delve deeper into the subject. Below is a synopsis of what exactly happens in the system that makes the eye unable to tell one color from another.
A person’s ability to realize colors depend on three pigments - red, green and blue – which are contained in the photoreceptors called cones. The cones are concentrated at the very centre of retina. Deficiency of one or more of these pigments instigates a flawed color vision. Those with all the three pigments in place i.e., with a normal color vision are trichromats.
The most common color vision problem crop up due to a lack of one of the three pigments. People suffering from this are referred to as anomalous trichromats and those with a complete absence in one cone pigment are called dichromat.
Symptoms of Color Blindness
Firstly, it needs to be determined if the problem is since birth, acquired, partial or complete. The symptoms largely depend on these factors. A primary and most common sign is when person has hard-time making a distinction between red and green, in some cases blue and green.Diagnosis of Color Blindness
Special colored charts called Ishihara Test Plates are used for the diagnosis of color blindness. The patient is required to identify the number composed of colored dots on each plate on the charts which are held under proper lighting.Treatment of Color Blindness
A treatment for this ocular problem is yet to be found. However, eye-care practitioners helps patient with slight color deficiencies to identify colors by associating them with specific things so that they can recognize colors as someone with a normal color vision.There is no treatment or cure for color blindness. Those with mild color deficiencies learn to associate colors with certain objects and are usually able to identify color as everyone else. However, they are unable to appreciate color in the same way as those with normal color vision. Special lenses are also used to mitigate the affect of the problem but they are not easily available. These are but only ways to manage the problem there is no permanent solution or cure. A color deficient person can never appreciate color like someone with a normal color vision would.
