Color blindness is a congenital visual impairment, which is expressed in the improbability to distinguish mainly green and red colors. It is linked to the X chromosome. These people perceive color differently and combine basic monochromatic colors in a different way to find the right shade.
It is observed mainly in men (8%).
In the central part of the human retina are color-sensitive nerve cells called “cones”. They contain three types of color-sensitive pigments of protein origin. One type of pigment is sensitive to red, another to green, and a third to blue. More precisely, they are sensitive to the wavelength corresponding to red, green and blue in our understanding. The vision of all the colors of the world is provided by the “folding” of these three colors in our brain. In humans, the peak sensitivity of these pigments falls at a wavelength of 552-557 nm for red, 530 nm for green and 426 nm for blue. This is normal, trichromatic color vision. When one of these elements falls out, partial color blindness begins – dichromasia. Persons suffering from dichromasia distinguish colors mainly by their brightness; qualitatively, they are able to distinguish only “warm” tones (red, orange, yellow) from “cold” tones (green, blue, violet) in the spectrum. Color-blind people and people with reduced color vision perceive the colors of the world around them differently than we do, but often do not notice their difference from others. This happens because the color-blind from childhood learn to call the colors of everyday objects by generally accepted designations. They hear and remember that grass is green, the sky is blue, and blood is red. In addition, they retain the ability to distinguish colors by the degree of lightness. but often do not notice their difference from others. This happens because the color-blind from childhood learn to call the colors of everyday objects by generally accepted designations. They hear and remember that grass is green, the sky is blue, and blood is red. In addition, they retain the ability to distinguish colors by the degree of lightness. but often do not notice their difference from others. This happens because the color-blind from childhood learn to call the colors of everyday objects by generally accepted designations. They hear and remember that grass is green, the sky is blue, and blood is red. In addition, they retain the ability to distinguish colors by the degree of lightness.
Among dichromats, there are those who are blind to red (protanopia), in which the perceived spectrum is shortened from the red end, and blind to green (deuteranopia). With protanopia, red is perceived as darker, mixed with dark green, dark brown, and green with light gray, light yellow, light brown. With deuteranopia, green is mixed with light orange, light pink, and red is mixed with light green, light brown. Blindness to purple color – tritanopia, is extremely rare and has no practical significance. In tritanopia, all colors of the spectrum appear as shades of red or green. In some cases, only a weakening of color perception is observed – protanomaly (weakening of the perception of red) and deuteranomaly (weakening of the perception of green).
All forms of congenital color blindness are hereditary. Women are the conductor of this pathological heredity; they themselves retain normal vision and are color-blind only when they have a color-blind father along with at least a mother heterozygous for this gene.
Acquired color vision disorders can occur with various diseases of the organ of vision and the central nervous system; one or both eyes are affected and not often – on all primary colors. Color vision disorders are detected using special tables or spectral instruments.