Where is color blindness found

Males have 1 X chromosome and 1 Y chromosome, and females have 2 X chromosomes. The genes that can give you red-green color blindness are passed down on the X chromosome. This is because:. Blue-yellow color blindness and complete color blindness are passed down on other chromosomes, so they affect males and females equally.

Color blindness can also happen if your eyes or the part of your brain that helps you see color gets damaged. This can be caused by:. Your color vision may also get worse as you get older, especially if you get a cataract — a cloudy area on your eye. Search the site. It might indicate a more serious underlying issue. The eye contains nerve cells called cones that enable the retina , a light-sensitive layer of tissue in the back of your eye, to see colors. Three different kinds of cones absorb various wavelengths of light, and each kind reacts to either red, green, or blue.

The cones send information to the brain to distinguish colors. The majority of color vision deficiency is inherited. It typically passes from mother to son. With glaucoma , the internal pressure of the eye, or the intraocular pressure, is too high. The pressure damages the optic nerve , which carries signals from the eye to the brain so that you can see.

As a result, your ability to distinguish colors may diminish. Macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy cause damage to the retina, which is where the cones are located. This can cause color blindness. In some cases, it causes blindness. If you have a cataract , the lens of your eye gradually changes from transparent to opaque. Your color vision may dim as a result. Certain medications can cause changes in color vision. These include the antipsychotic medications chlorpromazine and thioridazine.

The antibiotic ethambutol Myambutol , which treats tuberculosis , may cause optic nerve problems and difficulty seeing some colors.

Color blindness may also be due to other factors. One factor is aging. Vision loss and color deficiency can happen gradually with age.

Additionally, toxic chemicals such as styrene, which is present in some plastics, are linked to the loss of ability to see color. Seeing colors is subjective.

However, your eye doctor can test for the condition during a normal eye exam. Testing will include the use of special images called pseudoisochromatic plates. These images are made of colored dots that have numbers or symbols embedded within them. Only people with normal vision can see these numbers and symbols. If color blindness occurs as the result of illness or injury , treating the underlying cause may help to improve color detection.

Your eye doctor may prescribe tinted glasses or contact lenses that can assist in distinguishing colors. People who are colorblind often consciously apply certain techniques or use specific tools to make life easier. For example, memorizing the order of the lights from top to bottom on a traffic light removes the need to distinguish its colors. Some people also acquire the condition as a result of long-standing diseases such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis, some liver diseases and almost all eye diseases.

To read more about acquired conditions click here. The effects of colour vision deficiency can be mild, moderate or severe depending upon the defect. The retina of the eye has two types of light-sensitive cells called rods and cones. Both are found in the retina which is the layer at the back of your eye which processes images.

Rods work in low light conditions to help night vision, but cones work in daylight and are responsible for colour discrimination. There are three types of cone cells and each type has a different sensitivity to light wavelengths. One type of cone perceives blue light, another perceives green and the third perceives red.