{"id":7054,"date":"2019-05-30T21:07:05","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T21:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.today\/?p=7054"},"modified":"2021-11-09T16:13:58","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T16:13:58","slug":"14-things-to-know-about-being-color-blind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.today\/14-things-to-know-about-being-color-blind\/","title":{"rendered":"14 Things to Know About Being Color Blind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Color blindness is a common health condition affecting thousands of people all over the world, and a lot of people out there might even be living with the condition right now without even being aware of it. Many times people don\u2019t realize they are color blind at all until they realize that the color they see isn\u2019t the one someone is describing it as \u2013 or someone will tell them that they\u2019ve been mixing things like clothes up, while they might have looked perfectly fine to the person putting them on.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are still plenty of misconceptions about color blindness out there, and it can be confusing to dig around for the right facts \u2013 especially if you\u2019re only recently dealing with the condition.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you color blind yourself or do you know someone who is? Here are 8 essential things to know about being color blind, minus all of the myths.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. It\u2019s Not Color Blindness<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Even though the health condition is most commonly referred to as color blindness<\/a>, this doesn\u2019t make for a very good description of what the condition is or how it works at all. Someone who is color blind isn\u2019t really blind to any type of color; it only means that the cones in their eyes function differently \u2013 and some colors are interpreted differently by the eyes and the brain. This means that something which might appear green isn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This affects your life about as much as you can imagine, and it\u2019s common for people who are color blind to have trouble buying the right type of fruit by the color \u2013 and that\u2019s just one example of how it can affect your life. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Color blindness doesn\u2019t describe the term very well \u2013 and that\u2019s one of the first and most important things you can learn about the condition. Instead, it\u2019s a misinterpretation of color.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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2. It\u2019s a Lifelong Condition<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Color blindness is a condition that has no cure as far as we know. There are plenty of things that can be done for you to live with the condition in an easier way \u2013 such as learning ways around the shades or colors that you can\u2019t see \u2013 but the condition itself can\u2019t be completely cured. If you are color blind, you\u2019re going to be color blind for life \u2013 and while there are methods (such as tinted glasses) that can help you to see color, they only aid the condition and can\u2019t cure it completely.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can still live a completely normal life with color blindness, and apart from being unable to follow a handful of career options where being able to see colors are part of the job, it won\u2019t generally affect your life in too many other ways.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you\u2019re color blind or not, it\u2019s always a good idea to have your eye health <\/a>seen regularly.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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3. It Can Impair Certain Careers<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you really were to sit down and think about it, the majority of careers out there don\u2019t require you to see color as part of the job. In fact, it\u2019s a topic that would almost never come up in casual conversation unless you made an obvious mistake such as packed shelves wrong, or putting the bananas in the wrong pile. Still, in most cases, this won\u2019t be too much of a disaster at work and can still be counted as a minor mistake \u2013 but there <\/span>are<\/span><\/i> some careers where color blindness can have you excluded entirely.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are color blind, you are unable to pass the vision <\/a>tests for being a firefighter or police officer, for example: Here, shades and colors could mean the difference between life or death in an emergency situation.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is one part of why vision tests are part of applying for the job.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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4. Doesn\u2019t Generally Affect Vision<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Color blindness generally affects the way in which your eyes and brain <\/a>interpret the signals behind colors and shades. This is a lifelong condition that can have a lot of impact on your life, but you should also know at the same time that color blindness by itself isn\u2019t generally known for affecting the rest of your vision \u2013 and there are no serious eye conditions that can be caused by having color blindness.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, you should have your health looked at on a regular basis to ensure that your body is working the way it should, and this process should always include your eye health. This is true even if you aren\u2019t color blind, because there are still many conditions out there that <\/span>can<\/span><\/i> affect your vision.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you ever notice that you have to look closer or squint, that\u2019s your body telling you it\u2019s time for an eye exam.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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5. It\u2019s Also Named Daltonism<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Color blindness is also commonly referred to as Daltonism<\/a>, named after John Dalton \u2013 the person who first described the condition after living with it himself for many years. It\u2019s not the most common name out there for color blindness, but there are many people who figure that it\u2019s still a better description of the term and condition than \u201ccolor blindness.\u201d As we\u2019ve already mentioned in this article, people who are described as color blind aren\u2019t really blind to anything, and a more accurate description of the condition is no doubt necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dalton might not have been the first person to have the condition, but he <\/span>was<\/span><\/i> the first to describe it \u2013 and we\u2019ve luckily had a lot of research into the condition since then in order to understand it (and what causes it) better than we did when the condition was first described on paper.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you prefer color blindness or Daltonism as a term? Up to you. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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6. Some Issues Are Common<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are a few very common issues which the majority of people who are diagnosed <\/a>with color blindness will experience at some point in their lives, and most of these are small things that people who don\u2019t have the condition would not have even stopped to notice on a normal day. These are things that might seem basic to everyone else but can present quite the challenge to someone with the condition.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, imagine trying to choose a fruit off the shelf \u2013 and make sure that it\u2019s the right shade to be ripe. This is easy, right? If you\u2019re color blind, then things get a little more complicated than this. If you can\u2019t spot the right shade, you might have to resort to going by smell, feel or taste instead.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to clothes, issues mixing up the wrong shades are common. Many people opt for shirts of the same shade in order to avoid this.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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7. Ishihara Plates Are Used to Test It<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are a few different types of tests out there that officially test for color blindness, and a lot of people have absolutely no idea they could be color blind themselves until they\u2019ve spotted one of these tests and realize they tested positive by the end it. There are plenty of tests you can look up online, and there are even a few basic tests circulating around on the internet as a meme: Spot the number from the mosaic. Get it right, and your eyes are fine, but if you can\u2019t see the number \u2013 or keep getting the answer wrong \u2013 it\u2019s likely that you could be color blind. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These tests are more than just memes. Yes, they\u2019re real \u2013 and they\u2019re one of the ways in which color blindness <\/a>(and the<\/span> type<\/span><\/i> of color blindness) are assessed.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make an appointment with an ophthalmologist if you\u2019ve seen (and failed) any one of these tests. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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8. Color Blindness Can Be Genetic<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

More research goes into color blindness as a condition every single day in order to learn more about what causes the condition, how we can live with the condition, how we can find easier and better ways to diagnose it, and what we can eventually do to cure the condition. There are certain types of color blindness that might only hit you later on in life, but the majority of cases of color blindness are present from birth \u2013 and more research out there points to the idea that genetic <\/a>factors can be a huge part of it. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the research done so far, we know that mothers are more likely to pass on color blindness to their sons \u2013 and if you are color blind yourself, it\u2019s pretty likely that someone in your family was, too even though they might not have known about it themselves. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get tested if you have any family history that you know of!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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9. More than 300-Million People are Color Blind<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Did you know there are more than 300-million color blind people around the world? It turns out color blindness isn’t uncommon after all. Research shows one in every twelve men are color blind, and one in every 200 women experience the disorder. It’s clear the condition affects men more than it does women, but medical science is at a loss to explain why. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, more than 95% of color bling people are men, and more than 98% of people with color blindness have green-red color blindness. The mother passes down the gene associated with the condition through the X-chromosome. As a result, it’s more common for men to get color blindness than women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are different ways the color blindness gene expresses itself, and the Deutan and Protan types are the most common forms of color blindness. Individuals with color blindness generally don’t have any problems living a normal lifestyle<\/a>. Quick fact \u2013 Color blind people are often surprised to learn that peanut butter isn’t green in color!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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10. Color Blindness is Defect in Light-Sensitive Cells<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

People who are color blind typically find they have a hard time adjusting to light when moving from dark to well-lit spaces. The person may squint or struggle for an unusually long time to adapt to the new lighting environment. This behavior is not uncommon in color blind people due to a defect in the affected individual’s light-sensitive cone cells<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our eyes have “cones” that pick up color. There’s an “L” cone for picking up red colors and an “M” cone for sensing green color. People dealing with color blindness find they have issues with an overlap of the cones, causing confusion with detecting the correct color. The disorder can affect all the colors in the spectrum, painting the world as a different place for someone that’s color blind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might surprise you to learn that all babies are born color blind. It takes around six months for a newborn to develop the L and M cones sufficiently to detect color.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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11. Do Color Blind People Only See In Grey?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ask a layperson about their understanding of color blindness, and most of them assume it affects all colors across the spectrum. It is a common misunderstanding to think color-blind people only see in tones of grey. People dealing with the Deutan and Protan types of color blindness recognize colors, but they have confusion in detecting the difference between red and green. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there is a small subset of color blindness known as monochromatic color blindness. Monochromacy affects less than two percent of all people with color blindness, and these individuals can only see in tones of grey. These individuals are more likely to have light sensitivity<\/a>, and they may need to wear dark sunglasses in strong sunlight conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This type of monochromatic color blindness is rare, and most people suffer from the Deutan and Protan types. In general, people with color blindness can detect around 20 colors, while people with normal vision can see about 100 different hues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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12. Tritanopia is Blue\/Yellow Color Blindness<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tritanopia <\/a>is a medical term describing blue\/yellow color blindness. However, individuals affected by this type of color blindness experience problems distinguishing between blue, yellow, and violet colors. Therefore, we think blue-green color blindness would be a better way of describing this condition. Defects in the Tritan affect your S-Cone “short-wavelength cone.” As a result, there are two ways this defect expresses itself in vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tritanopia \u2013 Individuals affected by tritanopia are known as “dichromats.” These individuals are completely missing the S-cone, and they only have medium-wavelength cones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tritanomaly \u2013 With this form of the anomaly, the S-Cones have a mutation, and it’s very rare, affecting only one in 10,000 people. Unlike the traditional forms of red-green color blindness, Tritan defects come encoded on the 7-chromosome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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13. Correct Your Color Blindness with Special Glasses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As far back as 1837, Seebeck, a German Scientist, investigated the possibility of using lenses to correct red-green color blindness. A century or so later, the prototypes of these lenses are finding their way into the market. Manufacturers develop lenses that filter specific colors in the spectrum, improving the color blind person’s color detection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the glasses, you select custom tinting levels in the lenses, allowing you to see colors correctly in both eyes. Manufacturers can set up each lens individually, allowing you to customize your glasses to each eye defect. Typically, the color tints on the lenses are different in each eye, and if you use the same lens in both eyes, it reduces the effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These tinted lenses work for all types of color blindness, including protanopia<\/a>, deuteranopia, and tritanopia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it’s important to note that people who are dealing with monochromatic color blindness experience no relief from using these lenses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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14. Color Blind Celebrities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned earlier, it might surprise you to learn that color blindness is a lot more common than you think. Some of your favorite celebrates could be color blind, and you would never know it. Here is a list of Hollywood A-listers with color blindness<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n