Color blindness: symptoms, causes, to treatment

Definition of color blindness

Color blindness is a decrease in the eye's ability to distinguish certain colors. The eye has difficulty seeing colors like red, green, blue, or a mixture of these colors clearly.

In the retina of the eye, there are two cells that detect light, namely rods and cones. Stem cells only detect bright and dark light and are very sensitive to low light.

The cones detect color and are concentrated in the middle. There are three types of cones that perceive color, namely red, green, and blue. The brain uses input from these cone cells to determine color perception.

Color blindness can occur when one or more color cone cells are absent or malfunctioning and thus fail to detect colors properly.

This vision problem generally affects both eyes and is a vision problem that is experienced for life. However, sufferers can practice color identification skills so they can lead a normal life.

How common is this condition?

This condition is more common in men than women. In general, more people experience a type of partial color blindness, which is unable to recognize some colors such as red or green.

Meanwhile, total color blindness can only see black and white or everything else looks gray. This condition is very rare.

The characteristics of color blindness

Most people do not realize that they have trouble seeing colors because they are used to perceiving certain colors. For example, green grass is in accordance with the color he sees.

However, people who experience color blindness usually show signs and symptoms, such as the following:

• Cannot distinguish between red and green, but can distinguish blue and yellow easily, or vice versa.
• It's hard to see how bright a color is.
• Cannot see colors from the solid color spectrum, such as red, blue, yellow, and green clearly.

Parents usually also don't realize if their child has this condition. Even though it is very important to detect this condition from an early age because color is very much related to the learning process in schools. Children who are color blind usually exhibit features such as:

• Difficulty distinguishing colors at traffic lights
• Cannot distinguish colors in learning material

The difference between each type of color blindness

There are several types of color blindness which differ from the severity of the decline in color vision ability.

Some people who have moderate color blindness can see colors well in bright light, but have difficulty when it's dark. Others experience partial color blindness, which is not being able to see some colors at any light intensity.

In severe cases, namely total color blindness, the sufferer has difficulty distinguishing between many colors, only seeing black, white, and gray.

This condition can affect the visual acuity of a person. Patients may experience eye movement problems, eye fatigue, sensitivity to light, and blurry vision.

When should I see a doctor?

You should call your doctor if you have difficulty distinguishing certain colors for the test.

Children should also have a complete eye exam, including a color vision test, before entering school.

Causes of color blindness

Seeing colors across the light spectrum is a complex process that begins with your eye's ability to respond to different wavelengths of light.

Light enters the eye through the cornea, then passes through the lens and transparent tissue to the cells that are sensitive to wavelengths (cone cells).

The cones are located at the back of your eye, on the retina to be precise. In normal eyes, you will see a specific color in the process.

The American Optometric Association explains that this condition occurs when the cone cells are damaged or their chemical components are reduced. That is why the eye has difficulty capturing one or more of the main colors, namely red, blue, and yellow.

Genetic or hereditary factors are the main cause of color blindness. However, there are also other things that can cause a person to experience color blindness, namely:

1. Heredity

This visual disturbance is a congenital condition. The color blind gene is usually passed on from mothers to sons.

2. Certain diseases

Eye disease or injury that results in damage to the optic nervous system and retina can be the cause of this visual disturbance. These diseases include:

• Diabetes
• Glaucoma
• Macular degeneration
• Alzheimer's
• Parkinson's
• Chronic alcoholism
• Leukemia
• Sickle cell anemia

This condition can affect one eye, but sometimes it can affect both eyes as well.

3. Drug side effects

Some medications can reduce a person's color vision, such as autoimmune drugs, heart disease, high blood pressure, erectile dysfunction, infections, neurological disorders, and antidepressants.

Even so, the side effects of decreased vision are usually not permanent.

4. Other factors

The ability to see colors also decreases slowly with age. In addition, exposure to occupational chemicals, such as carbon disulfide and fertilizers, can cause color vision loss.

Risk factors

What increases my risk of developing this condition?

Men have a higher risk of developing this condition than women. There are many factors that increase a person's risk for experiencing this vision disorder, namely:

• Heredity
• Treatment
• Certain diseases, such as glaucoma, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and leukemia

Diagnosis

How to diagnose color blindness?

Your doctor can diagnose this condition by doing tests to see your vision's ability to distinguish colors.

Experts recommend that children have an eye exam when they are 3-5 years old. Eye examinations are recommended for pre-school children, between the ages of 3-4 years.

During the test, you can usually be asked to see a collection of colored dots with a pattern such as a letter or number in the middle. In other types of tests, you are asked to arrange the pieces by color. If you have color blindness, you will have a hard time arranging the color chips into one complete image.

Here are some of the types of color blindness tests your eye doctor may order:

• Ishihara color test
  This examination is performed to check for red-green color blindness. This test is probably the one you come across most often to determine whether you can see colors well or not. Your doctor will ask you to look at several circles (also known as plates) filled with dots of various colors and shapes.

• Cambridge color test
  This check is similar to the Ishihara color test, but you need to look at the computer screen. You will be asked to find a "C" shape which has a different color to the background.

• Anomaloscope
  You are asked to look at an eyepiece and a circle. The top half of the circle is light yellow, the bottom half is red and green. Later, you will be asked to press a button until the two halves have the same brightness level. Doctors use this examination to check vision for red and green colors.

How to deal with color blindness

Generally, most types of color vision disorders cannot be cured. If your condition occurs due to other health problems, the treatment you are doing also focuses on overcoming the disease you are experiencing.

If you are taking drugs that cause color blindness, your doctor may adjust the dosage or suggest you switch to other medications. Certain vision therapies can also improve the eye's ability to perceive color.

Here are some treatment options for treating color blindness:

• Color blind glasses
  People who have difficulty distinguishing between red-green colors or other partial color blindness may be able to wear color blind glasses so they can see clearly. The use of these glasses only helps you to identify colors and distinguish them, but it cannot restore.

• Eyeborg
  People with severe color blindness (achromatopsia) can't see any color.

  Red colored lenses can increase sensitivity to light in people with this condition. Apart from that, the device eyeborg can also help the sufferer's eyes achromatopsia to capture light through sound waves.

Medications such as gene therapy are known to have the potential to restore color vision abilities. However, testing this treatment method is still being carried out on animals, it cannot be ascertained that it is safe and effective for humans.

What are some lifestyle changes that can be made to treat color blindness?

You can still live normally even if you have trouble distinguishing certain colors. The following are some tips you can do so that you adapt to this visual impairment:

• Study the sign
  When it is difficult to recognize colors clearly, you can study things or signs that use color, for example remembering the order of traffic lights from top to bottom showing red, yellow, and green.

• Label goods
  When it comes to matching the colors of one object to another, it's best to ask someone with a normal color distinction to help you identify the color, for example, when matching or combining clothing colors. On clothes that are a color you can hardly distinguish, put a label that identifies the original color.

• Make use of technology
  You can use applications on technology devices that help identify the colors of the objects you see on a daily basis.

Color blindness can make it difficult for you and limit your activities at work. However, in most cases, this visual disturbance is not serious. With certain exercises and adaptations, sufferers can still live normally.