Correcting Color Blindness
You get a compliment on your outfit. Why the green tie with a brown suit? You’re confused because it is supposed to be a brown tie. Or you’re at a luncheon and you see tomato soup being served but you think it is pea soup. You might be color blind.
Color blindness is the inability to distinguish between certain colors. Though people often use this term to describe this condition, true color blindness (seeing black and white only) is very rare.
Color blindness is usually inherited. Men are more likely to be color blind than women. Most people with color blindness have trouble telling red from green. A small percentage of people have trouble telling blue from yellow. One theory is that the red gene and green gene are located on the X chromosome so men are at a disadvantage if something is off with those genes and can’t rely on a second copy like women can.
Often times, you could be color blind and don’t know it. People who are color blind have difficulty with distinguishing different shades of a particular color. It is very rare to have trouble with all colors.
Let’s begin with how your eye responds to light. Light, which contains all wavelength colors, enters your eye through the cornea and passes through the lens and transparent, jellylike tissue in your eye (vitreous humor) to wavelength sensitive cells (cones) at the back of the eye in the macular area of the retina. The cones are sensitive to short (blue), medium (green), or long (red) wavelengths of light. Chemicals in the cones trigger a reaction and send the wavelength information through your optic nerve to your brain.
If your eyes are normal, you distinguish colors. But if the cones lack one or more wavelength-sensitive chemicals, you will be unable to distinguish the colors red, green or blue.
Color blindness can be caused by an inherited disorder, other diseases like macular degeneration, certain medications (like those for high blood pressure or autoimmune diseases), aging, and certain chemicals (such as carbon disulfide and fertilizers).
Your doctor will have to perform a thorough eye examination with an emphasis on having you decipher pictures made of colored dots that have numbers or shapes in a different color hidden in them.
If you have color blindness or color vision deficiency issues, you will have trouble seeing some of the patterns in the dots.
As far as treatment goes, there is none with color vision difficulties except if it may be caused by a specific medication then discontinuing use of that particular drug may be recommended.
Wearing a colored filter over eyeglasses or colored contact lens may be helpful in identifying the contrast between different colors. Bear in mind, this won’t help with all colors.
There are certain things you can do to compensate for color blindness. For instance, you could memorize the order of colors on a traffic light or organize your closet according to colors. You should check if there are any apps or digital devices that can help with color blindness.
Color blindness can be limiting in terms of careers such as chef, house painter, commercial pilot, electricians—all of which rely heavily on color.
Just because you’re color blind doesn’t mean you are image blind. There are ways to compensate for this condition and design your own kaleidoscope of colors.
If you are concerned that you may be color blind, see your ophthalmologist for examination and testing.
