People with color blindness tend to see colors a little differently. It usually runs in families, and while there’s no cure, there are special glasses and contact lenses that can help differentiate between colors.
Most commonly, people with color blindness cannot tell the difference between red and green. Others struggle to see blue and yellow, while some can’t see color at all. Men are at higher risk than women are (1 in 12 vs 1 in 200), and symptoms can become noticeable when someone has trouble seeing the difference between colors, how bright colors are, or different shades of colors. Symptoms of color blindness can be so mild that they’re not noticeable, and some don’t even know they have it!
Babies are born colorblind, and their color vision improves as they grow. Typically, color vision is fully developed by 6 months, and reaches its peak by age 20 before starting to decline again. Color blindness can be caused by natural aging, but more often are caused by glaucoma, cataracts, and macular degeneration. Drugs and exposure to neuro-toxic chemicals can affect color vision loss as well.
There are lots of color blindness tests online, but unfortunately they’re not as accurate as a visit with your eye specialist will be. If you think you might be colorblind, schedule an appointment today!
