Colour blindness, also known as the colour deficiency, is a condition in which the person can not differentiate between colours efficiently. They can not perceive the colours right. Mostly, they face difficulty in distinguishing between red and green colour. If you or your child also face that, visit Hashmanis Hospital.
Colour blindness usually transfers from parents to their offsprings. Mostly it occurs through a defect in the X chromosome. But the mother may also pass it to her children even if she is not colour blind. It happens because she may be carrying a gene that did not represent itself. Since X chromosome carries the defective gene of colour blindness, therefore, it is more common in males. Females are rarely colour blind.
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What Causes Colour Blindness?
Our eye has a retina, that is responsible for the processing of images. It contains two types of cells, named as rods and cones. Later one perceives colour and processes it to the brain. Any defect in these cells can cause colour blindness, due to which the person can not perceive the right colour.
Mostly it occurs due to genetic transfer of genes from parents to their offsprings. But colour blindness can also occur as a result of certain health conditions like diabetes, liver disease or multiple sclerosis.
What Are The Symptoms Of Colour Blindness?
The usual symptom of colour blindness is difficulty in differentiating between colours, especially between green and red. However, the extent of difficulty depends upon how much damage to cone cells has occurred. If little damage has occurred to the cone cells, the person may even not know that they have colour blindness. They would associate a particular colour with the one they see.
For example, if you tell them the grass is green, they will keep that particular colour they see as green in their mind. Wherever they see something of that colour, they would say it green.
If more damage has occurred to the cone cells of the retina, it will become more difficult to perceive colours for a person. Therefore, sometimes people with colour blindness see everything as grey. That shows that a lot of damage has occurred to the cone cells of the retina.
How Is Colour Blindness Diagnosed?
It is quite hard to know that the person perceives which colour right or wrong. Therefore, the healthcare provider will use a plate or images known as pseudoisochromatic plates in which numbers or symbols are written with coloured dots. If a person can see those numbers, they are not colour blind. While those who are face difficulty in seeing the number.
You must get your children checked with an eye specialist before they join their school. If not, they will face difficulty in distinguishing and perceiving colours since at that stage they have to do a lot of work with colours.
How Can Colour Blind People Cope With Life?
Coping with colour blindness can be a bit difficult. But you become used to of it. If it occurs due to any injury or disease, it may get corrected. But if it occurs due to a genetic tendency, it can not.
However, colour blind people have their own coding for colours and their own techniques to detect them. For example, they would remember the pattern of lights on the signal instead of their colours and can, therefore, drive a car with ease.
However, they may face difficulty in coping with certain professions. If they are electrician, they will not be able to differentiate between red and green wires that is a need for their job.
Conclusion
Colour blindness is a condition in which you can not differentiate between colours, especially between red and green. However, it does not affect your life much. Your healthcare provider may give you tinted glasses that may help you in coping up with the condition. At times, you may even not know that you are colour blind until you get tested. If you want to get yourself, or your children tested for it, visit Omar Hospital.