10 Facts about Color Blindness
More than likely you know someone with color blindness, but here are the 10 facts you may not know!
- The first document on color blindness dates back to 1798. It was written by John Dalton, an English Chemist who himself was a color blindness.
- Types of Color Blindness –
- One, which makes it hard for a person to differentiate between Red and Green,
- Second, in which a person is unable to tell the difference between Blue and Yellow, and,
- The third, where a person is diagnosed with absolute color blindness.
- Monochromacy is the word for absolute color blindness and a person diagnosed with it can only see shades of gray, white and black.
- Color blindness is genetic; it can be passed from parents to children. Because of this, women who are red-green color blind will always have red-green color blind sons.
- 99% of people with color blindness are Red-Green color blind.
- Color blindness can also be caused due to eye diseases, retina damage, or with aging.
- Color blindness affects more men than women and is not a gender blind trait. In United States, 10% of men are red-green color blind as compared to 0.5%of women.
- Ishihara Test is the most widely used test for color blindness. Created by Dr. Shinobu Ishihara, a Japanese ophthalmologist, the test is made of plates filled with colored dots. The plates contain numbers in dots of different colors that a colorblind person cannot differentiate.
- Certain countries do not allow color blind people to drive. It is hard for them to distinguish between the red, green, and yellow traffic lights.
- For color blind people, even colors in their dreams are limited to what they see in everyday life.
If you have difficulty in identifying the correct colors, you should immediately meet your nearest Optometrist or visit your nearest Devlyn Optical Store today!