The Effects and Outlook for Color Blindness
Color blindness is a vision deficiency that decreases the ability to see colors such as red, green, and blue. There is no actual blindness, but there is a lack of color vision which also makes this condition called a color vision problem. A color vision problem can change your life because it may make it harder to learn and read, and you may not be able to have certain careers. But children and adults with color vision problems can learn to make up for their short sightings.
What causes color vision problems?
Most color vision problems are inherited genetically and are present at birth. People usually have three types of cone cells in the eye: each type senses red, green, or blue light. You see color when your cone cells sense different amounts of these three basic colors. The highest concentration of cone cells is found in the macula, which is the central part of the retina. Inherited color blindness happens when you don’t have one of these types of cone cells or they don’t work right. You may not see one of these three basic colors, or you may see a different shade of that color or a different color all together.
A color vision problem isn’t always inherited. In some cases, a person can have an acquired color vision problem. This can be caused by aging, eye problems such as: glaucoma, macular degeneration, cataracts, or diabetic retinopathy, injury to the eye, and side effects of some medicines.
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms of color vision problems vary; you may be able to see some colors but not others. For instance, you may not be able to tell the difference between some reds and greens but can see blue and yellow easily. You may see many colors, so you may not know that you see color differently from others. You may only be able to see a few shades of color, while most people can see thousands of colors. In rare cases, some people see only black, white, and gray.
Lamson Institute in San Antonio offers an Optical/ Optometric Assistant program that prepares our students to start their career as an Optometric Assistant or Optical Assistant. Graduates of the program will be prepared to test patients for visual acuity, depth perception and color blindness. Students will also learn how to use precision optical instruments and lens-edging machines. With the training provided by Lamson, students will be able to help diagnose and treat patients who are visually impaired, so call or click today to help others tomorrow.