Most of us are aware of blindness and what it means. But color blindness? We may even be surprised to know that it really does exist. The fact is there are many color blind people in the world who are not even aware they have this problem.
What is color blindness?
Color blindness is not a problem with actual eyesight. But rather a problem in recognizing certain colors. For example, people who are color blind may recognize red as yellow or blue as black.
Types of color blindness
There are three types of color blindness, namely “Red-Green”, “Blue-Yellow” and complete color blindness. Deficiencies in Proton and Tutrone in eyes is the main reason for this problem.
1. Red-Green Blindness
Red-Green Blindness is the most common type of color blindness. This occurs due to improper functioning of (Proton) Red cone and (Tutrone) Green cone cells.
2. Blue-Yellow Blindness
When Blue cone cells present in eyes doesn’t function properly, it can lead to blue-yellow blindness. These people will have problems with detecting blue, pink and yellow colors.
3. Total Color Blindness
When all the cone cells in the eyes fail to function properly, it leads to total color blindness. This occurs very rarely.
What leads to color Blindness?
This is totally a hereditary disease. When a person has color blindness, there are high chances that his or her kids may have it as well. Additionally, this problem occurs when the cone cells in eyes stop to function.
How to Detect?
Most often, people with color blindness do not realize it in its initial stages. They believe everyone sees the color the same way like they do. It’s only when they start to notice conflict in detecting colors during conversations with others, they start to realize their problem.
Doctors use Ishihara color plate to test for color blindness. This problem is mostly found with men. 1 in 12 men is believed to be color blind. whereas, only 1 in 200 women has the same problem.
Why is it mostly found in Men?
It’s X-chromosome that transmits color blindness. During pregnancy, if the fetus is a girl, presence of other X-chromosome will cure this problem. On the other hand, if it is a boy, they have only one X-chromosome so they are more vulnerable to this disease.
Treatment
There are no treatments available for this disease. So there is no permanent solution to the problem. However, color blindness is not a state where a person loses his eyesight totally. They would only have problems with detecting certain colors. This might lead to little obstacles now and then. But there are no major complications due to this.
What are the common problems?
Color blind people may have minor problems like detecting the signal light color in traffic and choosing clothes in garments shop. They may need the help of someone while crossing the street. Kids and children will have problems with detecting colors in their books.
Though some kids do understand they have some kind of problem with detecting colors accurately, they might hesitate a bit to let their parents know about it. If your boys have problems with detecting colors, it’s better to get it checked with a Doctor immediately and become aware of it.