Color Blindness
By Danielle Sutrich and Hannah Blum
What is Color Blindness?
Color Blindness is a disorder that makes you have trouble differentiating color. There are 3 types: Red-green, blue-yellow, and total color blindness. Red- green colorblindness is the most popular, with 6% of the male population having this disability. There are cones and rods in your eyes. In a type of Red-Green colorblindness, called Deuteranopia, a type of cone is missing or nonfunctional which results in the blindness to see green. In Deuteranomaly, these same type of cones are defective , which causes it to operate below normal capacity to interfere with a person’s ability to see certain shades of green, and shifts the color sensitivity toward the red sensitive cones. (See color-blindness for more information).
What are the symptoms?
You should notice symptoms when you are young. These symptoms include difficulty distinguishing between colors, inability to see shades or tones of the same color, and rapid eye movement.
How are symptoms caused?
It is a genetic trait and it is caused by a lack of cone cells in the retina. The eyes can’t perceive light the same. Non-Hereditary color blindness can be caused by aging or diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, or sickle cell anemia. Also, it could be caused due to trauma on the eyes, UV damage, chemical exposure, and shaken baby syndrome.
How is it treated?
Color Blindness can not be treated and in some cases, it can become progressively worse to the point where no color can be seen at all. However, color filtered contact lenses can be used to enhance the brightness between colors.
What Mutations Cause Color Blindness?
Color Blindness is caused in a mutation on the OPN1LW, OPN1MW, and OPN1SW genes. These genes produce three types of opsin pigments in cones that are essential for color vision. Opsin is a protein that forms part of the visual pigment rhodopsin and is released by the action of light. The OPN1LW produces opsin pigments that are sensitive to yellow and orange light. OPN1MW produces opsin pigments that are sensitive to yellow and green light. The OPN1SW produces opsin pigments that are sensitive to blue and violet light. Changes in these genes prevent your eyes from distinguishing the difference between colors.
Pattern of Inheritance?
Color Blindness is a Sex- Linked trait. Males have one X chromosome, whereas females have two. In females, if one of the X chromosomes is defective, that is recessive since the other X chromosome is normal and it is dominant. In males, if the X chromosome is defective, the carrier is color blind, which is why males are more likely to have color blindness. When the females have a defective gene, her children all have a 50% chance of being colorblind.
What number do you see?
answer: 26
What number do you see?
answer: squigly
What number do you see?
answer: 5
(Works Cited) See More At...
"Color Blindness." Color Blindness – Symptoms and Treatments for : Bausch + Lomb. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
"Color Blindness-Topic Overview." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.
"How It Works (science)." Color Blindness. N.p., 18 Apr. 2009. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
"Treatment." Colour Blind Awareness. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.