This Is How Partial Colorblind Patients Feel

Most penssufferingcolor blind suffer from partial color blindness. Very few actually experience total color blindness. The characteristics of color blind people are having a different perception of color, and being unable to distinguish certain colors.

Color blindness is usually characterized by difficulty in naming colors since childhood, in contrast to their peers who can identify colors easily.

Recognizing the Causes of Partial Color Blindness

Broadly speaking, there are two types of color blindness, namely partial color blindness and total or partial color blindness. People with partial color blindness may have difficulty distinguishing some colors. Then there is total color blindness, often known as monochromatic vision, characterized by not being able to see color at all.

Partial color blindness usually occurs because of hereditary factors that are inherited from families who have abnormalities in photopigments, the molecules that detect color in the cone-shaped cells of the retina.

In addition to heredity, color blindness can also be caused by damage due to exposure to chemicals, or physical injury to:

• Eye
• Nerve of sight
• The part of the brain that processes color information

The combination of age and cataracts, also causes a person to experience color blindness.

Understanding the Classification of Partial Color Blindness

In its classification, partial color blindness has two groups, the first is color blindness or difficulty distinguishing colors in red-green gradations, and the second group is blue-yellow color blindness.

Red-green color blindness is caused by the absence or reduced function of red cones or green cones. There are four types of color blindness, namely:

• Deuteranopia

  The absence of green cone cells makes people with this condition tend to see red to yellow-brown and green to beige.

• Protanopia

  The absence of red cone cells makes red appear black. While the colors orange and green will look yellow. They also have difficulty distinguishing between purple and blue.

• Protanomaly

  There is a malfunction of the red photopigment so that the orange, red, and yellow colors appear darker, resembling green. This mild condition is estimated to be experienced by about one percent of men and has little effect on daily activities.

• deuteranomaly

  People with deuteranomaly see green and yellow to reddish color and have difficulty distinguishing purple and blue. This harmless condition is caused by an abnormal blue photopigment. About five percent of men with color blindness suffer from this condition. Meanwhile, blue-yellow color blindness is caused by the loss or malfunction of the photo pigment blue cone (tritan). This type of color blindness is divided into two types, namely:

• Tritanomaly

  There is a disturbance in the function of the blue photopigment, which makes people with this situation see that blue looks greener, and it is difficult to distinguish between yellow and red. This condition is very rare, in both men and women.

• Tritanopia

  There are not enough blue cones to make blues appear greener and yellows appear purple or light gray. This condition is also very rarely experienced, both by men and women.

Hereditary partial color blindness cannot be cured, because it is impossible to replace the cone cells in the retina. As long as it does not interfere with most daily activities, this condition does not require special treatment because it does not cause chronic health problems.

However, if partial or total color blindness is caused by the consumption of certain drugs or a pre-existing health condition, then this condition needs special treatment by a doctor. Consult the problem of partial color blind vision with an ophthalmologist, to undergo color blindness tests and get appropriate recommendations, to help adapt to daily activities.