What is color blindness?
Color blindness is a visual pathology that leads affected persons to have an altered perception of colors. This anomaly can be partial (dyschromatopsia), characterized by a low sensitivity to one or some colors, or total (achromatopsia), very rare, which leads to not perceiving any color and being sensitive to light.
Color blindness can be classified according to its characteristics:
- We speak of pronatopia if the color red is not perceived and protanomaly in case of poor vision of this color.
- We speak of deuteranopia if we do not perceive green color and deuteranomaly in case of bad vision of this color.
- We speak of tritanopia if we do not perceive blue and tritanomalia in case of poor vision of this color.
Symptoms of color blindness
Color blindness is characterized by an altered perception of colors.
Diagnosis of color blindness
Patients suspected of being color blind are subjected to two tests:
- Ishihara charts test: a series of color and dot charts on which a number is written and used by ophthalmologists. A non-color blind person will be able to read the correct number, while those with color blindness will read the wrong number or even see no number at all.
- Farnsworth test: is more in-depth than the Ishihara charts. In it, the patient is shown a series of colored discs that must be aligned according to their shade.
What are the causes of color blindness?
The causes of color blindness are the incorrect functioning of sensory cells, resulting in a partial or total inability to recognize specific color tones. This malfunction is hereditary, but can also arise as a result of other causes (among which we find acquired color blindness), such as:
- Lens opacity
- Alcohol abuse
- Head injuries
- Eye diseases
Can it be prevented?
Hereditary color blindness cannot be prevented. As for acquired color blindness, it is possible to prevent it, only in some cases, for example by avoiding alcohol abuse, regular eye examinations and avoiding head injuries.
Color blindness treatments
Nowadays, color blindness is not curable. The only possible solution is the use of glasses with special lenses that help color blind people to distinguish colors better.
Which specialist to contact?
For color blindness it is necessary to contact an ophthalmologist.