Color blind

Understanding

Color blindness is a condition when a person can still see colors, but is not able to distinguish these colors. Color blindness is generally inherited from parents and is more common in men (5-8%).

The most common type of color blindness is red-green color blindness. In this case, red and green appear as the same color, namely brown.

Symptoms

Symptoms of color blindness can be mild or severe. Most sufferers experience mild symptoms, so they do not realize that they are color blind.

Parents usually suspect that children experience color blindness when it is difficult to distinguish colors that appear at traffic lights, or difficulty mentioning educational materials related to color.

Symptoms of color blindness that generally occur are:

• Difficult to distinguish colors and brightness of colors.
• Difficult to distinguish similar color shadows, such as red with green or blue with yellow.

People who cannot distinguish colors at all, or all colors look gray, are called accromatopsia. This condition is very rare, and is usually associated with amblyopia (lazy eyes), nystagmus (rapid and unconscious eye movements), light sensitivity, and poor visual acuity.

Diagnosis

Color blindness can be checked through a simple test, called the Ishihara test. This test shows patterns formed by colored dots.

People who are not color blind can say numbers or shapes between these points. While those who are color blind will have difficulty or even not see any patterns. If the test results are positive, the doctor will do a more complex confirmation test.

Cause

The process of seeing colors from various light spectra is complex. This process starts from the ability of the eye to distinguish three main colors, namely red, green, and blue. Light enters the eye through the cornea, passes through the lens and the vitreous body, towards the cone cells in the retina.

Cone cells contain chemicals, which play a role in distinguishing colors. People with normal cone cells can easily distinguish various colors. Whereas those who lack chemicals in the cone cells can only see two of the three main colors.

Most cases of color blindness are congenital abnormalities (birth defects), which are usually passed from mother to son. This disorder can be mild to severe, experienced by both eyes, and the severity will not change with age.

There is also color blindness that is acquired or caused by a disruption in the retina or eye nerves due to injury, side effects of drugs, metabolic abnormalities or blood vessels. This type of color blindness usually only occurs in one eye, and tends to worsen over time.

The following are various risk factors that increase a person's chances of experiencing color blindness:

• Male sex. Opportunities for congenital color blindness are higher in men than women, namely as many as 1 in 10 men.
• Aging. The ability to see and distinguish colors slowly decreases with age.
• Disease. Some diseases that can reduce the ability to see color, namely coir cell anemia, diabetes, macular degeneration, Alzheimer's disease, glaucoma, Parkinson's disease, alcoholism, and leukemia.
• Drugs. Medicines aimed at heart disease, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis, erectile dysfunction, infections, neurological and psychological disorders can reduce the ability to see and distinguish colors.
• Chemicals. The ability to see and distinguish colors can disappear due to exposure to chemicals, such as carbon disulfide and chemical fertilizers.

Treatment

Congenital color blindness cannot be treated, and usually does not cause significant disability. Contact lenses or glasses with special filters can help people with congenital color blindness distinguish similar colors. However, the use of these tools still cannot fully correct the inability of the eye to see various colors.

The ability to distinguish colors from the color blindness that results from certain illnesses or drugs will improve if the cause is treated.

When to see a doctor

Immediately visit a doctor if you experience a visual impairment that appears suddenly or worsens quickly, and affects your ability to distinguish colors.

Prevention

There are no specific recommendations to prevent color blindness. However, you can undergo the Ishihara test, both at home and with your doctor, if there is a history of color blindness in your family, or if you suspect you are color blind.

Especially for children, eye examinations and color blindness tests need to be done before entering school age.