I am color blind ?

Question

I have problems with red and green colors I discover that about 6 years ago, how crazy I was living my Life and never noticed I cant see well colors.

I hear some people with time, they will see just Black and White is that True?

And in how long time takes to get to that fase if this is true.

Answer 1

Color blindness, or color vision deficiency, in humans is the inability to perceive differences between some or all colors that other people can distinguish. It is most often of genetic nature, but may also occur because of eye, nerve, or brain damage, or due to exposure to certain chemicals. The English chemist John Dalton in 1794 published the first scientific paper on the subject, "Extraordinary facts relating to the vision of colours", [1] after the realization of his own color blindness; because of Dalton's work, the condition is sometimes called Daltonism, although this term is now used for a type of color blindness called deuteranopia.

Color blindness is usually classed as a disability; however, in select situations color blind people may have advantages over people with normal color vision. There is anecdotal evidence that color blind individuals are better at penetrating color camouflage and at least one scientific study (Morgan, Adams and Mollon, 1992) confirms this under controlled conditions. Monochromats may have a minor advantage in dark vision, but only in the first five minutes of dark adaptation.


This is a sample image. The pictures below should look similar to people with normal vision (containing numbers, in this case 83), but some of them will not be visible to people with a color vision deficiency. The contrast in these tests is much subtler than commonly seen in other similar tests.

This image contains a different two-digit number than the picture above. Someone who is protanopic might not see this number.

Someone who is tritanopic might not see this number.
Contents [hide]
1 Prevalence
2 Causes of color blindness
3 Classification of color deficiencies
3.1 Red-green color blindness
3.1.1 Dichromacy and anomalous trichromacy
3.1.2 Genetics of red-green color blindness
3.2 Blue-yellow color blindness
3.3 Monochromacy
4 Diagnosis
5 Treatment and management
6 Design implications of color blindness
7 Misconceptions and compensations
8 See also
9 External links
10 References



[edit]
Prevalence
Color blindness affects a significant number of people, although exact proportions vary among groups. In Australia, for example, it occurs in about 8 percent of males and only about 0.4 percent of females[1]. Isolated communities with a restricted gene pool sometimes produce high proportions of color blindness, including the less usual types. Examples include rural Finland, Hungary, and some of the Scottish islands. In the United States, about 10 million men, which is about 7 percent of the male population and about 0.4 percent of the female population either cannot distinguish red from green, or see red and green differently (2006, Howard Hughes Medical Institute). It has been found that more than 95 percent of all variations in human color vision involve the red and green receptors in male eyes. It is very rare for males or females to be "blind" to the blue end of the spectrum.

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Causes of color blindness
There are many types of color blindness. The most common variety are hereditary (genetic) photoreceptor disorders, but it is also possible to acquire color blindness through damage to the retina, optic nerve, or higher brain areas. Higher brain areas implicated in color processing include the parvocellular pathway of the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus, and visual area V4 of the visual cortex. Acquired color blindness is generally unlike the more typical genetic disorders. For example, it is possible to acquire color blindness only in a portion of the visual field but maintain normal color vision elsewhere. Some forms of acquired color blindness are reversible. Transient color blindness also occurs (very rarely) in the aura of some migraine sufferers.

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Classification of color deficiencies
Acquired
Congenital
Dichromacy
Protanopia
Deuteranopia
Tritanopia
Anomalous trichromacy
Protanomaly
Deuteranomaly
Tritanomaly
Monochromacy
Rod monochromacy
Achromatopsia
The normal human retina contains two kinds of light sensitive cells: the rod cells (active in low light) and the cone cells (active in normal daylight). Normally, there are three kinds of cones, each containing a different pigment. The cones are activated when the pigments absorb light. The absorption spectra of the pigments differ; one is maximally sensitive to short wavelengths, one to medium wavelengths, and the third to long wavelengths (their peak sensitivities are in the blue, yellowish-green, and yellow regions of the spectrum, respectively). It is important to realize that the absorption spectra of all three systems cover much of the visible spectrum, so it is incorrect to refer to them as "blue", "green" and "red" receptors, especially because the "red" receptor actually has its peak sensitivity in the yellow. The sensitivity of normal color vision actually depends on the overlap between the absorption spectra of the three systems: different colors are recognized when the different types of cone are stimulated to different extents. For example, red light stimulates the long wavelength cones much more than either of the others, but the gradual change in hue seen as wavelength reduces is the result of the other two cone systems being increasingly stimulated as well.

The different kinds of color blindness result from one or more of the different cone systems either not functioning at all, or functioning in an unusual way. When one cone system is compromised, dichromacy results. The most frequent forms of human color blindness result from problems with either the middle or long wavelength sensitive cone systems, and involve difficulties in discriminating reds, yellows, and greens from one another. They are collectively referred to as "red-green color blindness", though the term is an over-simplification and somewhat misleading. Other forms of color blindness are much rarer. They include problems in discriminating blues from yellows, and the rarest forms of all, complete color blindness or monochromacy, where one cannot distinguish any color from grey, as in a black-and-white movie or photograph.

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Red-green color blindness
There are several types of red-green color blindness:

Protanopia: Lacking the long-wavelength sensitive retinal cones, those with this condition are unable to distinguish between colors in the green-yellow-red section of the spectrum. They have a neutral point at a wavelength of 492 nm—that is, they cannot discriminate light of this wavelength from white. Their sensitivity to light in the orange and red part of the spectrum is also reduced. Very few people have been found who have one normal eye and one protanopic eye. These unilateral dichromats report that with only their protanopic eye open, they see wavelengths below the neutral point as blue and those above it as yellow. This is a rare form of color blindness.
Deuteranopia: Lacking the medium-wavelength cones, those affected are again unable to distinguish between colors in the green-yellow-red section of the spectrum. Their neutral point is at a slightly longer wavelength, 498 nm. This is one of the rarer forms of colorblindness making up about 1% of the male population, also known as Daltonism after John Dalton. (Dalton's diagnosis was confirmed as deuteranopia in 1995, some 150 years after his death, by DNA analysis of his preserved eyeball.) Deuteranopic unilateral dichromats report that with only their deuteranopic eye open, they see wavelengths below the neutral point as blue and those above it as yellow.
Protanomaly: Having a mutated form of the long-wavelength pigment, whose peak sensitivity is at a shorter wavelength than in the normal retina, protanomalous individuals are less sensitive to red light than normal. This means that they are less able to discriminate colors, and they do not see mixed lights as having the same colors as normal observers. They also suffer from a darkening of the red end of the spectrum. This causes reds to reduce in intensity to the point where they can be mistaken for black. Protanomaly is a fairly rare form of color blindness, making up about 1% of the male population.
Deuteranomaly: Having a mutated form of the medium-wavelength pigment. The medium-wavelength pigment is shifted towards the red end of the spectrum resulting in a reduction in sensitivity to the green area of the spectrum. Unlike protanomaly the intensity of colors is unchanged. This is the most common form of color blindness, making up about 6% of the male population.
[edit]
Dichromacy and anomalous trichromacy
Protanopes and deuteranopes are dichromats; that is, they can match any color they see with some mixture of just two spectral lights (whereas normally humans are trichromats and require three lights). Those with protanomaly or deuteranomaly are trichromats, but the color matches they make differ from the normal: In order to match a given spectral yellow light, protanomalous observers need more red light in a red/green mixture than a normal observer, and deuteranomalous observers need more green. They are called anomalous trichromats.

Protanomaly and deuteranomaly can be readily observed using an instrument called an anomaloscope, which mixes spectral red and green lights in variable proportions, for comparison with a fixed spectral yellow. If this is done in front of a large audience of men, as the proportion of red is increased from a low value, first a small proportion of people will declare a match, while most of the audience sees the mixed light as greenish. These are the deuteranomalous observers. Next, as more red is added the majority will say that a match has been achieved. Finally, as yet more red is added, the remaining, protanomalous, observers will declare a match at a point where everyone else is seeing the mixed light as definitely reddish.

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Genetics of red-green color blindness
Genetic red-green color blindness affects men much more often than women, because the genes for the red and green color receptors are located on the X chromosome, of which men have only one and women have two. Such a trait is called sex-linked. Genetic females (46, XX) are red-green color blind only if both their X chromosomes are defective with a similar deficiency, whereas genetic males (46, XY) are color blind if their only X chromosome is defective.

The gene for red-green color blindness is transmitted from a color blind male to all his daughters who are heterozygote carriers and are perceptually unaffected. In turn, a carrier woman passes on a mutated X chromosome region to only half her male offspring. The sons of an affected male will not inherit the trait, since they receive his Y chromosome and not his (defective) X chromosome.

Because one X chromosome is inactivated at random in each cell during a woman's development, it is possible for her to have four different cone types, as when a carrier of protanomaly has a child with a deuteranomalic man. Denoting the normal vision alleles by P and D and the anomalous by p and d, the carrier is PD pD and the man is Pd. The daughter is either PD Pd or pD Pd. Suppose she is pD Pd. Each cell in her body expressses either her mother's chromosome pD or her father's Pd. Thus her red-green sensing will involve both the normal and the anomalous pigments for both colors. Such women are tetrachromats, since they require a mixture of four spectral lights to match an arbitrary light.

[edit]
Blue-yellow color blindness
Color blindness involving the inactivation of the short-wavelength sensitive cone system (whose absorption spectrum peaks in the bluish-violet) is called tritanopia or, loosely, blue-yellow color blindness. Mutation of the short-wavelength sensitive cones is called tritanomaly. Tritanopia is equally distributed among males and females. Dr. Jeremy H. Nathans (with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute) proved that the gene coding for the blue receptor lies on chromosome 7, which is shared equally by men and women. Therefore it is not sex-linked. This gene does not have any neighbor whose DNA sequence is similar. Blue color blindness is caused by a simple mutation in this gene (2006, Howard Hughes Medical Institute).

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Monochromacy
Complete inability to distinguish any colors is called monochromacy. It occurs in three forms:

cone monochromacy, where only a single cone system appears to be functioning, so that no colors can be distinguished, but vision is otherwise more or less normal.
achromatopsia or rod monochromacy, where the retina contains no cone cells, so that in addition to the absence of color discrimination, vision in lights of normal intensity is difficult. While normally rare, achromatopsia is very common on the island of Pingelap, a part of the Pohnpei state, Federated States of Micronesia, where it is called maskun: about 1/12 of the population there has it. The island was devastated by a storm in the 18th century, and one of the few male survivors carried a gene for achromatopsia; the population is now several thousand, of whom about 30% carry this gene.
Color agnosia or "central achromatopsia", where the person cannot perceive colors, even though the eyes are capable of distinguishing them. Some sources do not consider this to be true color blindness, because the failure is of perception, not of vision. It is a form of visual agnosia.
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Diagnosis
The Ishihara color test, which consists of a series of pictures of colored spots, is the test most often used to diagnose red-green color deficiencies. A figure (usually one or more Arabic digits) is embedded in the picture as a number of spots in a slightly different color, and can be seen with normal color vision, but not with a particular color defect. The full set of tests has a variety of figure/background color combinations, and enable diagnosis of which particular visual defect is present. The anomaloscope, described above, is also used in diagnosing anomalous trichromacy.

However, the Ishihara color test is criticized for containing only numerals and thus not being useful for young children, who have not yet learned to use numerals. It is often stated that it is important to identify these problems as soon as possible and explain them to the children to prevent possible problems and psychological traumas. For this reason, alternative color vision tests were developed using only symbols (square, circle, car).

Most clinical tests are designed to be fast, simple, and effective at identifying broad categories of color blindness. In academic studies of color blindness, on the other hand, there is more interest in developing flexible tests ([2], for example) to collect thorough datasets, identify copunctal points, and measure just noticeable differences.

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Treatment and management
There is generally no treatment to cure color deficiencies, however, certain types of tinted filters and contact lenses may help an individual to distinguish different colors better. Additionally, software has been developed to assist those with visual color difficulties.

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Design implications of color blindness
Color codes present particular problems for color blind people as they are often difficult or impossible for color blind people to understand.

Good graphic design avoids using color coding or color contrasts alone to express information, as this not only helps color blind people, but also aids understanding by normally sighted people. The use of Cascading Style Sheets on the world wide web allows pages to be given an alternative color scheme for color-blind readers. This color scheme generator helps a graphic designer see color schemes as seen by eight types of color blindness. It is sometimes claimed that in extreme emergencies everyone is color blind. When the need to process visual information as rapidly as possible arises, for example in a train or aircraft crash, the visual system may operate only in shades of grey, with the extra information load in adding color being dropped. This is an important possibility to consider when designing, for example, emergency brake handles or emergency phones.

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Misconceptions and compensations
Color blindness is not the swapping of colors in the observer's eyes. Grass is never red, stop signs are never green. The color impaired do not learn to call red "green" and vice versa. However, dichromats often confuse red and green items. For example, they find it difficult to distinguish a Granny Smith from a Braeburn or the red and green of a traffic light without other cues (for example, shape or location). This is demonstrated nicely in this simulation of the two types of apple as viewed by a trichromat or by a dichromat.

Color blindness almost never means complete monochromatism. In almost all cases, color blind people retain blue-yellow discrimination, and most color blind individuals are anomalous trichromats rather than complete dichromats. In practise this means that they often retain a limited discrimination along the red-green axis of color space although their ability to separate colors in this dimension is severely reduced.

Answer 2

That is not true. People who suffer from red-green color blindness will have problems with those two colors for their entire lives, but it is a genetic defect, not a deteriorative disease. So don't worry about having to see the world in black and white. That doesn't happen.

Answer 3

The most common type of colorblindness is red-green, but there is a wide range of variability within this group, from very mild to extreme. The second most common form is blue-yellow, and a red-green deficit is almost always associated with this form.
The most severe form of colorblindness is achromatopsia, the inability to see any color. It is often associated with other problems such as amblyopia (lazy eye), nystagmus (small, jerky eye movements), severe light sensitivity, and extremely poor vision.
Please see the webpages for more details and images on Colour blindness.

Answer 4

I don't think that is always true of color blindness. I would talk to a doctor about this.
I also don't think you are crazy for not knowing you were color blind. How would you know the difference if you have never seen anything but what you have always seen?
Good luck!

Answer 5

http://www.stlukeseye.com/Conditions/ColorBlindness.asp

The above link indicates that your vision of colors should not degrade over time. Your vision, itself, may though and thus affect your ability to see colors. Of course, some people's vision stays good all their life.
It's not crazy not to realize you were perceiving colors differently from others. Think about it-- how do any of us know we see, hear, smell, taste, feel, or even think the same as others. We don't. Be thankful for what you have and do not grieve for what you never had in the first place. As for what you lose, if anything, simply see it as given over for some higher purpose. Good luck and good life!

Note: it's weird that my answer is smilar to that of momof2borninmarch and our avatars are similar, too. I hearby swear we are not the same person. I don't even have kids! (I do have nieces and nephews, though.)

Answer 6

Color people only see in greens and reds. So no you will not only see in black and white in the future.

Answer 7

That isn't true. Color-blindness is a genetic disorder; it is not a progressive disease, it will not worsen over time. There are varying degrees of color-blindness but you won't end up seeing in black and white.

Answer 8

I had a friend who could only see black and white, however he was born that way. I don't think color blindness is degenerative, check with your eye doc!

Answer 9

No, most are born color blind. If red and green is where you have trouble, thats what you will always have.

Answer 10

It could be--I have read that many more men than women are color blind.

Answer 11

AS FINE AS YOU ARE---(IF THAT'S YOU'RE REAL PIC) You could be completely blind and I would lead your FINE A*S all over the world!