Color Blindness

*Color blindness is not a form of blindness at all, but a deficiency in the way you see color. With this vision problem, you have difficulty distinguishing certain colors, such as blue and yellow or red and green.


*Red-green color deficiency is the most common form of color blindness, affecting about 2 percent to 6 percent of all men because of the way the trait is inherited.*


*Much more rarely, a person may inherit a trait that reduces the ability to see blue and yellow hues. This blue-yellow color deficiency usually affects men and women equally.

What causes Colorblindness?

`Color blindness occurs when light-sensitive cells in the retina fail to respond appropriately to variations in wavelengths of light that enable people to see an array of colors.

More men than women have color blindness. And usually people with a color deficiency are born with it.

*Photoreceptors in the retina include rods that enhance vision in low lighting, and cones that help us see in color vision. Inherited forms of color blindness often are related to deficiencies in certain types of cones or outright absence of these cones.

Besides differences in genetic makeup, other causes of color vision defects or loss include:
*Parkinson's disease (PD). Because Parkinson's disease is a neurological disorder, light-sensitive nerve cells in the retina where vision processing occurs may be damaged and cannot function properly.

Cataracts. Clouding of the eye's natural lens that occurs with cataracts can "wash out" color vision, making it much less bright. Fortunately, cataract surgery can restore bright color vision when the cloudy natural lens is removed and replaced with an artificial intraocular lens.

Electricians must be able to spot different colors in wiring, so for them a color deficiency can be a big problem.Tiagabine for epilepsy. An antiepileptic drug known as tiagabine has been shown to reduce color vision in about 41 percent of those taking the drug, although effects do not appear to be permanent.**

*Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). Particularly prevalent among males, this type of inherited optic neuropathy can affect even carriers who don't have other symptoms but do have a degree of color blindness. Red-green color vision defects primarily are noted with this condition.

Kallman's syndrome. This inherited condition involves failure of the pituitary gland, which can lead to incomplete or unusual gender-related development such as of sexual organs. Color blindness can be one symptom of this condition.

Color blindness also can occur when aging processes damage retinal cells. An injury or damage to areas of the brain where vision processing takes place also can cause color vision deficiencies.

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