Table of contents:
- What causes partial color blindness?
- Different types of partial color blindness
- 1. Green-red color blindness
- 2. Blue yellow color blindness
- What should I do if I have symptoms of partial color blindness?
The condition of color blindness causes the eye to fail to perceive light waves so that it cannot see colors clearly. Most of the conditions experienced color blindness are partial or partial color blindness. Total color blindness that makes the vision look black and white is very rare. However, the condition of partial color blindness also varies, depending on the decrease in the ability to identify a particular color vision.
What causes partial color blindness?
In total color blindness or monochromation, the sufferer cannot see any color other than black and white. Apart from that, their visual acuity can also be affected. However, what a person with partial color blindness feels is different.
Partial color blindness makes it difficult for sufferers to distinguish several colors, such as red, green, and blue. Most cases of color blindness are partly genetic and hereditary. You can develop this condition if your parents have a gene disorder color blindness.
This gene defect indicates a defect in the structure of the cone cells located on the retina, which is the light-sensitive tissue located at the back of the eye. These cone cells have photopigments that function to detect the color of the light that is captured.
Reporting from Color Blind Awareness, color blind descendants are passed on by parents who do not experience color blindness, but carry the gene disorder (carrier). Generally, cases of partial color blindness occur from mothers carrying genetic disorders that pass on to their sons.
Apart from heredity, certain diseases such as diabetes, glaucoma, eye injury, and the use of certain drugs can increase the risk of partial color blindness.
Different types of partial color blindness
As already explained, partial color blindness is caused by an abnormality in the function of cone cells to recognize colors clearly. This cone cell abnormality occurs due to the loss or reduction of the components responsible for identifying certain colors.
Based on this, partial color blindness can be divided into several types, namely:
1. Green-red color blindness
Green-red or color blindness red-green color blindness is the most common type of partial color blindness. This condition causes a person to have difficulty distinguishing between the colors on the red and green color spectrum.
This condition is caused by the loss or limitation of the function of the red (protan) or green (deutran) cone cells. Not all types of green-red color blindness make it difficult for a person to truly distinguish between colors. Some of the symptoms are so mild that you don't notice them.
There are several types of green-red color blindness, namely:
- Protanomaly: there is a disturbance in the red photopigment of the cone cells, so that the red, orange, and yellow colors appear green. This type of partial color blindness is mild so it doesn't interfere with daily activities.
- Protanopia: due to the red photopigment of the cone cells not functioning completely. The red color will appear as black. Meanwhile, some colors, such as orange, yellow, and green, look like yellow.
- Deuteranomaly: due to the photopigment of an abnormal blue color. This partially color blind sufferer sees green and yellow as more red and has difficulty distinguishing between purple and blue. Most of the men with color blindness experience this color blindness.
- Deuteranopia: the cause is the cone cell's non-functional green photopigment. In this partial color blindness, the red color looks brownish yellow and the green color looks pale brown.
2. Blue yellow color blindness
Type of blue yellow or color blindness blue-yellow color blindness less frequently than green-red color blindness. Partial color blindness is caused by malfunctioning or only partially functional blue photopigments (tritan). There are 2 types of blue and yellow color blindness, namely:
- Tritanomaly: due to the limited function of the blue cone cells. As a result, the blue color appears greener and it is difficult to distinguish between yellow and red from pink. This type of color blindness is very rare.
- Tritanopia: occurs when the number of blue cone cells is limited or less. In this partial color blindness, blue looks green and yellow looks like purple. Color blindness is also very rare.
What should I do if I have symptoms of partial color blindness?
It is important for you to detect color blindness early, especially in children. Although most of the conditions of partial color blindness do not affect activities, people with color blindness can get used to it if they adapt to the surrounding environment from the start.
So, if you recognize signs of partial color blindness, you should immediately check with an ophthalmologist.
Several tests can be done to check whether you have color blindness. One of the most common tests for color blindness is the Ishihara test, specifically for red and green color blindness.
Partial color blindness is an inherited condition, so no way to cure it has yet been found. It is different if doctors know that color blindness is caused by other factors such as illness and consumption of certain drugs. So special handling is needed to treat related health problems or adjust treatment.
