Can colour blindness get worse with age?

Question

My dh (in his 30's) is colour blind (not 100%, but fairly close) and feels that his colour blindness is actually getting worse and is having to rely on other people more to help him with colours. Can colour blindness get worse?

I should say that his vision itself is fine and has remained stable for the past 4 years or so.

He was tested so long ago, he doesn't even really know what the specifics are of his colour blindness. I only know that of him and his brother, his colour blindness is worse.

Sorry, I was thinking of "total colour blindness" as being "100%", but it's not really, is it?

Answer 1

No, colour deficiency as it is called these days does not become worse with age. If he has good vision, he will not be totally colour blind (these people are usually registered blind). It will be that either his red or green receptors in his eyes are not sensitive enough. They may be less sensitive than his colour deficient brother, but will not deteriorate.
He will have certain "confusion colours" & get colours mixed up.
e.g if it is a red problem, reds & greys can get confused as can blues & mauves as he can't detct how much red is in a colour.
If it is a green problem, greens & greys are a problem as are reds & browns.

Answer 2

As with regular sight, colour blindness may become more of a problem with age. I'm not sure what you mean by "not 100%." Colour blindness does have varying effects, like green may look exactly like red or orange is blue, but it isn't usually a matter of them seeing things in black and white. It's supposedly a genetic defect which causes minor complications but nothing serious. Odds are strong, that since his eyesight would slowly deteriorate, that his colour vision would deteriorate with it. I'm 22 now, used to have 20/10 vision in both eyes, now one eye is 20/15 and the other is 20/20. It happens.

Answer 3

Depending on the cause of his particular colour blindness...yes it can. He should consult an optician to see if there is any way to stop the degeneration;