There is a disease for which there is no cure. It is contracted at birth and lasts a person’s whole life. 350,000 people worldwide suffer from this disease. Some people learn they have this disease early on, while for others, it could be years before they discover it. Only in the past decade has treatment become widely available. This disease, which greatly impacts how those who suffer from it perceive their reality, is color blindness.
What is color blindness, or color deficiency? It ranges from minor visual problems in a person’s perception of light to being completely colorblind. The most common type of color blindness is a red-green color deficiency, categorized into Deuteranomaly, which has reduced sensitivity to green light, and Protan, which has reduced sensitivity to red light. Both of these create a harder time distinguishing between red and green. A rarer but still common type of color blindness is Blue-Yellow color deficiency or Tritianopoly, which is reduced sensitivity to blue light causing problems distinguishing between blue and green, as well as yellow and red. Source
Deuteranomaly is the most common type of color deficiency. It is an anomaly in the M cone of the eyes, M meaning medium wavelength. This wavelength is perceived as green light. Specifically, the sensitivity of the M-Cone is shifted towards the longer wavelengths which is seen as red light. This results in seeing too much red light and not enough green light. This kind of deficiency is in 6% of men. Deutan Color Deficiency causes issues distinguishing between green-yellow, blue-purple, and pink-grey-white.
Protan is the second most common type of color deficiency. It is an anomaly in the L-Cone that perceives Long Wavelengths characterized by red light. The L-Cone shifts towards shorter wavelengths of light. This results in not enough red light and too much green light. Protan is categorized into a partial shift, protanomoly, and a full shift, protanopia. 25% of red-green color deficiencies are protein-type. Protan causes green, yellow, red, and brown to look like the same color.
Tritan Color Blindness is usually acquired later in life, due to aging or disease, and is rarely inherited. It is reduced sensitivity to short wavelengths of light, caused by an anomaly in the S-Cone. People affected by Tritan Color Blindness have trouble seeing blue colors and confuse blue and green.
True Color Blindness, or Monochromatic and Achromacy, is the rarest. Most cases are incomplete achromatopsia, which range between seeing 3 channels of light like normal vision and two channels of light.
Now color blindness has no cure that is true, but there are ways to improve your vision. Enchroma has developed glasses that allow those suffering from color deficiency to see clearly and, with consistent use, improve their vision long term. Indoor and Outdoor glasses, for all kinds of color deficiency, have caused widespread crying from seeing color clearly for the first time.
