10.5.2024
The cause of color blindness is a genetic disorder affecting color perception. This condition may also be related to certain eye diseases, such as cataracts or optic nerve disorders.
There are three basic types of color blindness. The most common is a disorder affecting the perception of red and green. Slightly less common is an issue with perceiving yellow and blue. Very rarely, a person cannot differentiate between any colors at all.
Describing how a colorblind person sees is not easy. “If it is complete color blindness, vision can be likened to looking at a faded photograph. People whose eyesight cannot differentiate between red and green, for example, find it difficult to pick strawberries. In the case of an inability to distinguish between blue and yellow, the flag of Sweden may appear somewhat drab. However, color perception is a very subjective matter. It is therefore not easy to describe in detail how people with color vision disorders view the world,” explained eye surgeon Pavel Stodůlka.
Color blindness brings with it a number of complications in everyday life. “Colorblind people can already have problems during their schooling. Art education is problematic for most of them. However, they may also face difficulties in geography when recognizing the flags of individual countries or when reading maps. In adult life, it presents a series of challenges. If a person is fundamentally colorblind and cannot recognize basic signal colors, such as traffic lights, it is impossible for them to obtain a driving license,” Pavel Stodůlka added.
Ishihara images are used to test for this vision disorder. These are pictures made up of several colored dots in different sizes, and the subject’s task is to read a number or letter.
