Color Blindness

Color blindness may be a hereditary condition or caused by disease of the optic nerve or retina. Acquired color vision problems only affect the eye with the disease and may become progressively worse over time. Patients with a color vision defect caused by disease usually have trouble discriminating blues and yellows. Inherited color blindness is most common, affects both eyes, and does not worsen over time. This type is found in about 8% of males and 0.4% …

…under good lighting, the patient is asked to identify the number. Once the color defect is identified, more detailed color vision tests may be performed. There is no treatment or cure for color blindness. Those with mild color deficiencies learn to associate colors with certain objects and are usually able to identify color as everyone else. However, they are unable to appreciate color in the same way as those with normal color vision.