Color Blindness: What Is It?

The world that we inhabit is awash with colors. Rarely may you see only black and white around you. However, there are certain people who are color blind. They fail to recognize colors along with their varied shades. Our eyes contain three different kinds of photosensitive pigments for recognition of the primary colors- blue, red and green. Some of us may have dysfunctional photoreceptors, others may not have them at all. When this happens, the person is not able to differentiate the colors, nor can he recognize them.

Symptoms- The extent of color blindness may be total or partial. People afflicted by partial color blindness may not be able to distinguish between red, blue or green colors. Whereas people suffering from total color blindness can only see the shades of black, grey and white. Complete color blindness is extremely rare and people having such symptoms are likely to suffer from other serious eye disorders as well.

Causes- Color blindness has been associated with genes and is frequently inherited. It may be present from birth or commence later on during childhood or adulthood. Depending on the mutations of the X chromosome the condition may remain stable or may deteriorate steadily. Certain kinds of progressive color blindness may cause complete blindness later in life.

Shaken Baby Syndrome can cause color blindness as well. Brain and retinal damage are associated with it as well. Other causes may include trauma to the brain or eye. Exposure to UV rays may damage the photoreceptors causing color blindness too.

Treatment- There are no known treatments for color blindness. However the patient may recognise certain colors with the help of tinted filters and contact lenses. This process is not foolproof and do not provide satisfactory results. Specialised computer software has been developed for the color blind. The GNOME desktop environment may help the person to switch color filters on and off.