I am a dichromat, Red-green colorblinded. Can I still persue a career in medicine as a doctor?

Question

My dad has always told me that if I worked hard, I can acheive anything. I'm in my second year in college and maintaining a solid GPA for medical school. Being a doctor has always been my dream but I've recently come to realize the true hard fact that I'm red-green colorblind. I remember back in elementary school that my optometrist diagnosed me with colorblindedness but I never thought much about it until recently during one of my chemistry labs, I couldn't discern a hue between purple and green. I asked some doctors about colorblindedness and medical school and they told me that they were never screened for color test, although they all have normal color. I know that all doctors need to go through general medicine and I can see how important it is for a doctor to have a normal color vision but I know there are doctors who associate with colors minimally. Are there doctors or nurses here who know doctors who are color blind? Please reply, I feel so depressed.

Answer 1

I too aspired to become a doctor. Right now Im at the Mayo Clinic Medical School, been there about two years. I honestly hate to say it, but I do a lot of activites discerning color. Its probably not a good idea to be fumbling around with chemicals if you cant tell color differences. In fact, in my anatomy class we did a lab a week or so ago learning about the different meanings of what a fluid produced by the pancreas is called with a certain disease, and the only visual diffence you could see was color differences between the fluids.

Sorry

Answer 2

while i personally do not know any docs who are color blind,or maybe i do and dont realize it with the way things are today i dont see why you could not go to medical school..i would think therwe would be something to help discern the colors...maybe the best thing to do would be to speak with the dean at the med school and see what he sayd...not sure if this would be considered a disability but look into that also