Are you one of them who is not able to recognize colors? The condition of inability to distinguish different colors of the spectrum is called as color blindness. Don’t worry, color blindness is not at all complete blindness.
Most people have red, green and blue color blindness. Blue color blindness is also called as monochromatism where the person only sees black, grey and white colors.
People often mislead that color blindness is equal to blindness, but it is completely incorrect. They just tend to see colors in limited range of hues.
Many people have very mild forms of color blindness that do not interface with their daily routines. According to prevent blindness institute in America, more than 8% of male and below 1% of women have been experiencing this condition from last few years.
Let’s see symptoms of color blindness.
Symptoms Of Color Blindness
The symptoms of color blindness range from mild to severe. Most of the people may not recognize it as a color deficiency until they see complications in their vision.
Some Of those symptoms include:
- Trouble seeing colors and brightness of colors in an usual way
- Unable to tell the shades of different colors and similar colors
Color blindness does not affect the sharpness of vision but it makes difficult for person to realize the differentiation of colors. In severe cases, people will only able to see the colors in black, grey and white and this condition is called as acromatopsia. This rare condition is associated with:
- Light sensitivity
- Poor vision
- Amblyopia
Causes Of Color Blindness
The major cause of color blindness is from genetic(Hereditary) condition. Red, green and blue condition is definitely from your parents. The gene which is responsible for the condition is X-chromosome and this is the reason why many men are affected when compared with women.
This can also occur when light sensitive rays in retina fail to respond appropriately to variations in wavelengths of light which enable people to see array of colors.
The important organs in eyes which are called photoreceptors that helps us to see properly have rods and cones. Well, rods are more in number and very sensitive to light but they are incapable of perceiving color.
The cones in human retina are responsible for color vision of our eyes. Well, these photoreceptors are concentrated in the central zone of retina called macula. Inherited color blindness is often related in less number of cones or outer right absence of these cones in retina.
Apart from genetical condition, they are certain diseases and conditions that leads to color blindness in our lives.
-
Cataracts
This is one of the most common causes for color blindness, this condition clouds the eyes natural lens and washes out color vision which makes it much less bright.
-
Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disorder where the light sensitive cells in retina are damaged and cannot function properly.
-
Kallmans Syndrome
This condition involves failure of pituitary gland that lead to incomplete or unusual gender related development such as sexual organs. Color blindness is one symptoms of this condition.
- Medications
Certain medications also cause color blindness such as anticycotic medications chlorpromazine and thyoridazine.
The anti biotic ethambutal may cause optic nerve problems and cause difficulty in differentiating colors.
Color blindness also occurs when the ageing process damage retina cells or any injury that damages areas of the brain where vision processing takes place.
Treatment And Prevention Tips For Color Blindness
Inherited color blindness is not treatable. In case of acquire color blindness, doctor will treat the underlying disease or injury.
People with mild color blindness can lead their life without facing any troubles. But people with severe color blindness can interfere with tasks in their regular lives and face difficulty.