Is it possible to cure congenital color blindness at home?

Color blindness and color blindness are synonyms meaning visual impairment, namely the function of color perception. Every tenth inhabitant of the planet is colorblind, that is, a person with impaired vision perception. More often this disease is transmitted genetically, less often acquired. It is characterized by the fact that a person is unable to identify one or more colors. Color blindness is found in 8% of the male population and 1% of the female population, however, it is believed that it is women who transmit this disease by inheritance.

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How does color perception work?

In the central part of the retina of the eye there are special receptors - cones. There are 3 of them and each has a special type of light-sensitive pigment; they are responsible for the difference between red, green and blue colors. In people without pathology, all 3 pigments are located in cones, so they have the ability to detect many tones.

In the cones of a colorblind person, one can find the absence of one or more pigments or the pigment in much smaller quantities, which is why problems arise with the difference and perception of colors.

Causes of color vision impairment

There are hereditary and congenital color blindness. Initially, only the genetic form of the pathology was known, but scientific ophthalmological studies have shown that external factors can also disrupt color perception.

Hereditary color blindness occurs due to a defect in the X chromosome—it contains the genes that are responsible for color sensitivity in the retina. Congenital pathology manifests itself equally in both eyes; the condition does not worsen with age, but does not improve either.

Interesting! Often, the color vision disorder gene is passed on through generations. To determine a genetic predisposition to color blindness, it is necessary to undergo a DNA test.

As for the acquired disease, it can be triggered by the following factors:

eye pathologies associated with damage to the retina and optic nerve;
complications in the development of diseases of the nervous system;
macular degeneration due to diabetes mellitus;
mechanical damage to the eyeball;
damage to the retina by ultraviolet rays;
age-related pathological changes in the functioning of the visual apparatus;
use of certain potent medications.

Causes of color blindness

There are 2 types of disease:

Genetic color blindness develops after the transfer of the X chromosome from the carrier of the gene to the child. Women act as carriers of the gene, and boys most often receive this gene. In the female half of the population, the damaged gene can be compensated by the second chromosome (from the XX set). In turn, men have a different set of chromosomes - XY, so the gene cannot be compensated, therefore, impaired color perception is more often recorded in males.
Acquired color blindness is a vision feature acquired during life. As a rule, the development of the disease is preceded by damage to the retina or optic nerve. Acquired color blindness is characterized by a constant deterioration of the condition.

Acquired color blindness occurs due to:

age;
taking medications;
injury that damages the retina or optic nerve.

Why does the disease occur?

Doctors distinguish 2 main types of color blindness: hereditary and acquired. The vast majority of cases of visual anomalies are hereditary in nature and are a family disease, in the vast majority of cases transmitted from mother to sons through the X chromosome. Thus, in the family of J. Dalton, who first described this deviation, there were five children, three of whom - he and his two brothers - suffered from color perception disorders. At the same time, color blindness is most common in men - this pathology is present in approximately 8% of the stronger sex, while women with impaired color perception account for no more than 0.5%.

Much rarer are cases of acquired color blindness, the causes of which are usually:

age-related changes in the retina of the eyes, including clouding of the lens, which is associated not only with a deterioration in distant vision, but also with a decrease in the brightness of the perception of the color palette;
neurodegenerative diseases;
taking certain medications, intoxication;
eye injuries that caused changes in the retina or deformation of the optic nerve:
damage to the occipital lobe of the brain due to trauma, tumor, or hemorrhage.

Although the average frequency of the anomaly is 8.5% of the world's population, this figure can vary quite significantly for different areas and among representatives of different ethnic groups. Thus, on the Micronesian island of Pingelap there are an incredibly large number of people with achromatopsia - their share is about 10% of the population, although in general this deviation is extremely rare. There are other examples of similar deviations.

Types of color blindness

There is a misconception that colorblind people are completely unable to identify colors. This opinion is wrong. Most often, the disease is characterized by a violation of the perception of one or two colors; there are also color blind people who distinguish all colors, but have difficulty identifying shades. The rarest type are people who cannot distinguish colors at all.

Achromasia and monochromasia

A feature in which a person is diagnosed with an absolute lack of color vision.

This feature is observed very rarely, namely 0.1% of the entire population.

With achromasia, light waves, regardless of their length, are defined as different shades of gray.

Classification of color blindness

Congenital color blindness is classified into the following types.

Achromasia – there is no color vision, a person can only distinguish shades of gray. It occurs very rarely, in 0.2% of cases.

Monochromasia - a person perceives only one color. Often accompanied by painful sensitivity of the eyes to light (photophobia) and nystagmus, a pathology expressed in frequent involuntary movements of the eyeballs.

Dichromasia - the eyes distinguish between two colors. There are the following types of dichromasy:

protanopia – the color red is not perceived (the most common type);
deuteranopia – a person cannot distinguish the color green;
tritanopia is the rarest form of the disease, there is no perception of blue-violet colors, twilight vision disappears (the ability of the visual organ to work in low light conditions).

Trichromasia – all three primary colors (blue, green, red) are perceived. There are normal (meaning the absence of the disease) and abnormal trichromasia - in this case, difficulties arise in the perception of not the colors themselves, but their shades.

Anomalous trichromasia is divided into types of weakened perception of color shades:

protanomaly - red;
deuteranomaly – green;
tritanomaly - blue.

The following types of acquired color blindness :

Xanthopsia - a person sees the world around him in yellow shades. The reasons for the deviation may include previous jaundice, atherosclerosis, and drug intoxication.
Erythropsia - surrounding objects are perceived in red hues, typical for patients with retinal diseases.
Trianotopia - the color blue is not perceived; it is characteristic mainly of people suffering from night blindness (hemeralopia) - poor vision at dusk.

Diagnostics

First, if color blindness is suspected, the patient consults a doctor who conducts a survey and examination. During the examination, the doctor will first ask about possible heredity.

For a more thorough study of color blindness, doctors use specially developed polychromatic Rabkin tables. The set includes 27 multi-colored cards with images on them. The card itself is filled with circles and dots of various diameters, which have the same brightness, but differ in halftones and even colors. Geometric figures or numbers are veiled among the multi-colored dots.

If the patient does not recognize the images in the picture, then he is diagnosed with color blindness. A person without vision pathologies (trichromat) will see numbers and geometric shapes in the images.

How a colorblind person perceives the world

What colors do they see?

In fact, a person diagnosed with dichromasia sees all colors, however, they tend to be replaced by others.

The problem itself is not the colors, but the shades, but not all of them. The problem lies in the perception of certain colors depending on the type of color blindness.

Most likely, many colorblind people would not have known about their peculiarity if people with normal vision had not constantly pointed out their mistakes. Because of this, when asked to identify a particular color, a colorblind person will most likely rely on its brightness and the shade with which it is replaced. Thus, the brain tells him where “that color” is, despite the fact that the person has never seen it in his life.

ATTENTION! However, the colorblind body has learned to “compensate” for its deficiency with special sensitivity to other colors. Such people are able to distinguish even those shades that are inaccessible to the eye of a trichromat.

What colors are not distinguishable

Each colorblind person has his own unique indistinguishable color. Some patients note that, in principle, they are able to distinguish all colors if a minimum number of shades appear nearby. The brain has already adapted to the conditions of the surrounding world and has learned to distinguish colors based on brightness, saturation, or the “feature” of the hue.

How to test a person for color blindness?

The main symptom of color blindness is the inability to see a particular range of color shades. To recognize pathology, ophthalmologists use special tests. The most common is the polychromatic test, which uses standard tables. It includes 27 pictures with geometric figures, symbols and numbers depicted on them, made up of multi-colored circles or spots. The size of the background spots is identical to the figure spots and differs only in color. Exactly 5 seconds are allotted for pattern recognition; the table is located approximately a meter from the patient’s eyes. A person with normal vision can easily distinguish an image highlighted only in color. If the perception of individual colors is impaired, the test can easily reveal this.

Identifying signs of color blindness in young children and people with mental retardation is possible only on the basis of indirect data. Pediatricians believe that children begin to distinguish colors well only by the third or fourth year of life, so young children should not be tested at all. The simplest test is to offer the child a choice of two identical objects, one of which will be gray and the other painted in a bright color. If a child chooses a colored object, then everything is fine with him. Parents should be wary if their child confuses colors while drawing: he paints a green sun, brown foliage or a red river.

Colorblind children

Parents begin to panic when their children are given a terrible diagnosis. Of course, it is unpleasant to discover such a deviation in your child, but in no case will it affect his life, so the best option would be to accept the situation as it is.

Over time, the child learns to catch the most subtle notes when identifying colors. This process begins when they begin to teach him such subtleties as “green grass”, “blue sky”, “yellow sun”.

REFERENCE! Even if a child does not see the world like the majority, he will not find it difficult to answer the most common questions.

Basic Rules:

The main task of parents of a colorblind child is not to develop an inferiority complex. Don’t focus your attention on this problem again and teach your child to ignore the peculiarity, and maybe you can teach him to be proud of it.
When practicing, gently correct your child’s answers if he named the color incorrectly. We corrected the mistake and moved on. Over time, this will stick in your head.
It is very important to ensure the comfort of your home. When buying clothes, make sure that your child will be able to distinguish them and not confuse them with the clothes of a brother or sister.
Color comfort outside the home is about creating unique identifying features to make it easier for your child to find his items. For example, finding a backpack can be made much easier if you stick an emblem on it or hang a keychain.
The immediate environment must be warned so that there are no misunderstandings. It will also make your baby’s life much easier if you don’t have to ask him to bring something of a certain color. The immediate circle includes not only relatives, but also teachers, nannies, and parents of friends.
Teach your child to ask for help from others. Explain that there is nothing shameful in this. It would be nice to teach your child to answer in a difficult situation: “I’m colorblind and I can’t determine what color it is.”

Treatment

Genetic color blindness cannot be cured, however, I would like to note that in 2009, notes appeared about a successful test in the field of genetic engineering. The experiment consisted of introducing the X chromosome into monkeys. The scientists who conducted the experiment declared a successful completion.

Color perception disorders may be treatable if color blindness was acquired during life. The one that is acquired as a result of injury or the development of cataracts can be treated. Treatment is carried out through surgery.

Although the treatment of genetic color blindness is considered impossible today, research in this area did not end only with the experiments of American scientists. Today there is a method for correcting the disease - specialized glasses EnChroma. They partially remove some color waves between hard-to-see parts of the spectrum, widening the gap between them. This allows a colorblind person to see the world in its true color.

Useful video

All about color blindness:

Treatment of color blindness

Modern ophthalmology allows us to solve problems associated with color blindness. In the case of the acquired form, ophthalmologists suggest first identifying the original source of the disease and eliminating it. For example, if the development of pathology is associated with cataracts, then its surgical treatment will lead to the elimination of color blindness. If the disease appeared while taking certain medications, then it is necessary to stop taking such medications and the defect in color perception will disappear.

But what to do with a congenital disease? Here it is impossible to guarantee a 100% solution to the problem, but you can resort, for example, to contact lenses, which are aimed at compensating color perception. Optical products of this format have a special color, but do not completely solve the problem and may have a side effect in the form of distortion of the overall image. You can also use glasses that work on the same system as lenses.

Please note that in a room with minimal lighting, the effect of the glasses will be enhanced. There are also glasses with special sides on the sides, which allow for darkening and, as a result, correct perception of shades. Depending on the individual characteristics of a person, these two approaches to correction can be combined. But again, we repeat that hereditary color blindness cannot be treated - we can only count on its correction.

In general, color blindness does not pose a risk to human health, but it can significantly impair the quality of life. To summarize, it is worth summarizing that color blindness in men is becoming more and more common, but the problem can be solved. In addition, such a disease does not affect the type of activity in any way, except for those professions that are directly related to color perception.

Famous people suffering from pathology

In no case can this disease prevent a person from becoming world famous.

There were even artists among those suffering from color blindness.

For example, Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel. For a long time, the choice of gloomy colors for paintings was explained by the gloomy character of the artist, but after a thorough analysis, scientists came to the conclusion that the artist was color blind.

The second famous artist was Ilya Efremovich Repin. The artist acquired an illness with the onset of old age, at some point he even tried to correct his painting “Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan”

Actor Paul Newman and singer George Michael had one dream between them. They wanted to become pilots, however, the diagnosis did not allow their dream to come true. But this became an occasion to become no less famous personalities.

I would also like to highlight the director of the brilliant films “Inception”, “Prestige”, “The Dark Knight”. The disease did not prevent Christopher Nolan from becoming a famous person.

Colorblindness is not a death sentence

For colorblind people, special glasses are produced that, using color filtration, enhance poorly perceived shades. However, the disease still imposes restrictions: you won’t be able to become a pilot or driver with it. But recently, colorblind people can drive a car (except for people with complete color blindness). And in some situations, color anomalies are even better oriented than people with standard vision: they see camouflage better and can distinguish more shades of a certain part of the spectrum. There are many famous people who are colorblind, such as George Michael and Paul Newman. Some carriers of this disease even achieve success in traditionally “visual” professions, including director Christopher Nolan and Viktor Chizhikov, creator of the Olympic bear. If you suspect that you also have color vision problems, be sure to consult an ophthalmologist, and first try taking the test using the link. For an accurate result, we advise you to be as careful as possible and, just in case, check the color settings of your monitor. Material provided by the press service of Essilor-LUYS-Optics