Color blindness is a condition that can limit a person’s ability to see certain colors, color ranges or the brightness of colors. If you believe you may be colorblind, colorblind tests can help you determine what limitations you may have in perceiving color range.
Before seeing an optometrist, online colorblind tests that can help you determine if you are colorblind. The most common colorblind tests are the Ishihara color blindness test plates. These tests involve the viewer trying to identify dotted patterns of numbers within a colored circle. To those with color blindness, these numbers are typically hidden.
How Accurate Are Color Blind Tests?
Online colorblind tests can be a good initial way to test if you are colorblind but can be inaccurate sometimes. The only way to determine for certain is to be examined by an eye care professional. Your eye doctor may use tests ranging from simple arrangement tests of colored discs to quantitative colorblind tests that fully measure color blindness such as the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Test.
What Causes Color Blindness?
To see color in our day-to-day lives, our eyes use color-detecting molecules called photopigments located in cone-shaped cells within the retina. Those with color blindness have a deficiency or abnormality in certain genes that are responsible for creating photopigments, which limits or alters normal color perception.
Can Color Blindness Get Worse or Go Away on Its Own?
Depending on your genetics, color vision deficiency can range from mild to severe. Inherited color blindness is known to be an eye condition that stays the same throughout a person’s life. It will not progress or improve naturally.
Can Color Blindness Be Corrected?
Unfortunately, there is no current cure for genetic color blindness. But some patients with red-green colorblindness may be able to enhance certain colors with the help of contact lenses or glasses that include special filters. Special eyewear can help those with colorblindness, but your eye doctor will be able to conduct a comprehensive colorblind test to determine the best option for you. To schedule a colorblind test examination or learn more about the condition, contact our optometrists in Milton today.
