Color blindness, also known as color vision deficiency, is a condition in which a person has difficulty distinguishing certain colors. Contrary to popular belief, color blindness does not mean seeing in black and white - usually. Below, we’ll dive into the different types of colorblindness, how it affects everyday life, and what treatments can help those living with it.
Red-Green Color Blindness
The most common type of color blindness is red-green color blindness. This form of the condition means that people with this deficiency have trouble distinguishing between these two colors. It is caused by an inherited gene on the X chromosome and affects 8% of males and 0.5% of females worldwide.
Blue-Yellow Color Blindness
This type of color vision deficiency is much less common than red-green color blindness and happens when someone cannot accurately distinguish between blue and yellow hues. People who are blue-yellow color blind generally have difficulty perceiving green as well since it’s a mix of both blue and yellow shades. This type affects about 1 in every 250 men but fewer than 1 in 2 million women.
True Black-and-White Vision
It is extremely rare for anyone to see only in black and white or shades of gray - this happens to less than 1 person out of 30,000 people affected by any kind of color vision deficiency! In order for someone to be completely unable to perceive any colors at all, they must be affected by achromatopsia - a severe medical condition that includes photophobia (sensitivity to light) as well as nystagmus (involuntary eye movements).
The Optometrist Can Identify Color Blindness
An optometrist can easily identify if someone has some form of color vision deficiency during an eye exam using special tests called pseudoisochromatic plates (PIP). PIPs are sheets with circles made up by different colored dots arranged in patterns that you can only recognize if you have normal or corrected vision - otherwise they all look like random dots! The optometrist can then determine what type of colorblindness you have based on how easy or difficult you find it to identify particular numbers or symbols within the patterned circles.
ColorDX CCT Color Vision Test
Commonly used color vision tests (such as printed pseudo-isochromatic “Ishihara plates” designed a century ago), may only test genetic deficiencies and completely miss acquired deficiencies as well as being non-quantitative. ColorDX CCT is the state-of-the-art system to assess color vision deficiencies in high-definition and is one more tool enabling the doctors at Lentz Eye Care to diagnose and treat eye diseases at a much earlier stage.
ENCHROMA LENSES: ENGINEERED FOR COLOR VISION
Lentz Eye Care is excited to be one of the only retailers in Kansas to offer Enchroma Glasses. Enchroma unlocks a new world of color for people with color blindness. Enchroma glasses are engineered to make you look good, too, so you can make them a seamless part of your everyday routine. Enchroma lenses are based on an advanced light filtration technology that makes certain colors along the visible spectrum more distinct. By refining the light before it reaches the eye, the eyes can receive the color information they need to communicate the correct signals to the brain.
As you can see from this blog post, there is more to understanding colorblindness than just seeing in black and white. While not everyone will be affected by this condition, knowing about its different forms and treatments available helps us better understand how it works so we can better help those living with it every day. If you think you might be suffering from any form of colorblindness, call Lentz Eye Care today!