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Around the inner curve of the eyeball, there is a thin tissue known as the retina, which plays a very important part in one’s ability to see the world around him. Within that tissue exist millions of tiny cells, some of which are photoreceptors. That is to say that they translate light reflections into messages to be sent to the brain via the optic nerve. There are three types of photoreceptors that help a person see in varying degrees of light. The cones, which play their biggest role in the daytime hours, generally have the ability to detect color. However, when the color-sensing granules within the cones are not fully intact, a person can have difficulty seeing certain colors. This is referred to as color blindness and it generally involves the inability to see red, green, blue, yellow, or some combination of these colors. In some cases, the person may have difficulty denoting a difference between red and green or between blue and yellow. In very severe cases of color blindness, an Austin ophthalmologist may diagnose the condition as achromatopsia. This is the inability to see any color. All images will appear in shades of gray. It may also be associated with conditions such as lazy eye or severe light sensitivity.

Signs and Tests

An eye and cornea specialist Austin can help to determine if a person is truly color blind, however there are some symptoms that can help determine this without professional input. A person suffering from color blindness will have obvious difficulty determining the differences between certain colors or may not be able to decipher between shades of the same color.

The eye doctor will use a test called the pseudoisochromatic plate test. Tiny dots of color will reveal a particular shape, letter, or number to a healthy eye, but for those that have difficulty registering color may not see the image at all. For those who only have problems with one or two colors will not fail at interpreting all tiles, but a consistent pattern will emerge, telling the doctor that the condition is present. A second test involving the arrangement of small chips based on color can help to determine how severe the case of color blindness really is. Those with normally function vision would have no difficulty arranging the chips, but for diagnosed individuals, this task can be very challenging, if not impossible.

Resulting Difficulties

Unfortunately, color blindness, which might seem a minor concern, can make many tasks difficult for the diagnosed individual. There are no known cures and there’s nothing that and eye and cataract surgeonscan do to fix the problem. There are some professions that will deny an applicant simply based on his or her inability to distinguish between different colors. Perhaps even more disappointing is the fact that children suffering from this disorder will often have trouble learning in the early years of life, including a common problem with reading development. For this reason an eye doctor for diabetes and eye health will generally recommend first formal eye tests between the ages of three and five years – before a child begins his or her formal education.

Broberg Eye Care
4207 James Casey St # 305
Austin, TX 78745-1193
(512) 447-6096