1 in 10 children suffer from color blindness

• April 26, 2024

How to know if we see colors like others? Since we were little they taught us that the sky is blue or the grass is green. The world is full of colors, so we assume that we all have the ability to see them, but it is not, people colorblind they perceive them differently.

Experts say that one in ten children have difficulty appreciating some colors, which is known as colour blindness ; However, many people never realize that they suffer from this disorder, because it has different degrees of affectation.

The colour blindness , like other genetic conditions (baldness or hemophilia), is a disease proper to the masculine gender. They suffer it, while they are the ones that transmit it, but very rarely they suffer it.

Know the causes of the disorder

In the retina there are two types of cells: cones and canes, which make vision possible. The former are responsible for the perception of colors, and their genetic alteration is what prevents them from appreciating in a conventional manner.

One of the alterations consists in having two types of cones instead of three, which is the usual, what is known as dichromatism . Thus, there are different variants of color blindness such as:

1. Protanopes : They do not see the color to intense red.
2. Deuteranopes : They confuse the shades of red, green and yellow.
3. Tritanopes : They are blind to the blue color and they confuse the shades of green and blue, as well as those of orange and pink.

The most abundant group is the so-called trichromatics anomalous that, having the three types of cones, perceive the altered colors. They usually have defects similar to those colorblind dichromatics, but in less intensity.

Learn to detect it

It is usually the parents who realize the colour blindness of their children when it's time for them to learn the colors; Since then they have to guide their children to learn to live with their condition.

Usually, this disorder is diagnosed during an ophthalmological consultation or when applying the color test of Ishihara, which resides in the recognition of numbers or geometric figures made by small colored dots.

It should be noted that it is always necessary to go to an ophthalmologist if there are suspicions of colour blindness , to determine the existing degree of the anomaly and establish the necessary precautions. It is recommended to perform a preventive ophthalmological checkup for all children at 4 years of age.

The impediments are relative to the visual demands that the patient imposes, to the strategies of minimization of confusion that he develops and to the depth of the alteration.

In general, colorblind They can develop a totally normal life, it is even common for friends not to notice the situation if they are not communicated.

At the moment, this disorder has no cure, so colorblinds must create their own strategies to mitigate the confusion of colors (for example, recognize the red of the traffic lights by their position and not by color), which are fruit of their adaptation to daily activities.

Video Medicine: TEST YOURSELF - COLOR BLIND CHILD TEST (April 2024).