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The difficulty in identifying and recognizing different colors and shades is known as color blindness. Many people in this world suffer from color blindness. Before knowing what exactly happens in people suffering from color blindness, it is necessary to know exactly what is the process of color identification in people with normal color vision. Those with normal color vision have photoreceptors that are called as cones, which are concentrated in the center of the retina. These cones have 3 types of photosensitive pigments namely blue, red and green. These photosensitive pigments allow the identification on reorganization between different colors and shades.
In some people these cones are not in function or function in wrong way due to either some deficiency or due to the absence of one or more photosensitive pigments. That is why such people find it difficult to identify and recognize the difference between colors. The level of color blindness will be different in different people. Some people may have mild color blindness and while some can have severe color blindness. In people with partial color blindness the identification and differentiation between colors blue and yellow is allowed. While those suffering from severe levels find it difficult to differentiate between red, blue and green shades.
If anyone is suffering from complete color blindness then the only colors that they can identify are black, gray and white. But this case is very rare and this condition can be result of some other eye disease also. The symptoms of color blindness are different in different people. Many times the symptoms are not clear and that is why many people live with this condition without even knowing that they have any problem. People with partial color blindness will not find any difference in their vision. People only come to know about their condition only when it reaches the severe level. There is no cure for color blindness and this condition is under research.
Color blindness can happen in you, if someone had this condition in your family. Genetic disorder is the number one cause of this condition. The inherited color blindness defect is mainly an X-linked disorder and hence mostly males are prone to getting the color blindness from the mutated genes of his parents. This happens as male carries both XX chromosomes while female carries XY chromosomes. Hence the rate of female getting genetically color blindness disorder is almost half as that of male. In the inherited color vision defects there are three main defects called as monochromacy, dichromacy and anamolous trichromacy.
Other reasons for causing color blindness are some eye diseases, eye injury and that too to the retina part of the eye, aging and damage to the brain, damage due to sunrays and due to side effects of certain medications. This condition of the eyes was first identified and reported in 1798 by John Dalton. That is the reason why sometimes color blindness is referred as Daltonism. Detecting color blindness is very simple and with the help of easy color vision tests the eye doctor will found out whether you have this condition or not.
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