Treatment to reduce color blindness

Can it be cured? colour blindness? To date, no treatment has been found to eliminate this vision disease. Even though gene therapies in monkeys have been reported to have made progress, their effectiveness in humans cannot be assured. The good news is that there are options that help the patient to distinguish colors.

Diagnosis of color blindness

It is first necessary to highlight that the color blindness is not a type of blindness. Rather, it is a deficiency in how they see and recognize colors. It is obviously a vision problem since, the patient does not distinguish colors such as green, red, yellow and blue.

This pathology is hereditary, with men being the ones with the most risk factors. It is estimated that less than 1% of women in the world have color blindness, while this problem in men occurs in 8%. And, in most cases, green and red are indistinguishable.

The ophthalmologist is the specialist in charge of carrying out the pertinent tests to determine if there is poor color vision. For example, an eye exam is done by viewing some images that have been specially designed with colors that are difficult for color blind people to recognize. Of course, if the patient knows that it is difficult for him to recognize some colors, it is quite likely that he is suffering from this pathology.

Causes of color blindness: it is not only hereditary

It is worth mentioning that color blindness occurs because retinal cells that perceive light do not respond properly, so the variations of light waves are not distinguished, which is what makes us see colors. Then the photoreceptors of the retina are unable to see colors; Even though the most common cause of color blindness is genetics, there are other possible factors that can occur:

• Parkinson’s is a neurological disorder that can damage the nerve cells in the retina that perceive lightso the processing of vision is damaged and does not work correctly.
• Cataracts can also cause color blindness as it “discolors” vision. Fortunately, cataract surgery can restore the quality of visionreturning the brightness to the colors.
• Kallman syndrome: this is the name hereditary pathology that damages the pituitary gland, so there is not a complete development of the organism, which can cause color blindness to appear as a symptom of the disease.
• Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy is related to color blindness because there are defects in the distinction between red and green. Even if you do not have the disease, but are only a carrier, you can assume that the person suffers from color blindness.
• Tiagabine is a drug indicated for patients with epilepsy. However, it has been proven that it can cause a reduction in color vision. More than 40% of patients receiving tiagabine have suffered from color blindness. The good thing is that this effect is not permanent.

Treatment to correct color blindness

Although color blindness cannot be cured, thanks to technology the patient can be offered a “solution” to their problem. What is sought is to guide the person towards the colors. Typically, patients choose label your clothes or things around the house so you know what colors they areand also family and friends can always help.

There are also quite useful mobile applications to identify colors. The truth is that there are many tools used on colorblind patients. So it becomes independent and self-sufficient.

Now, it is normal that the patient also wants a little independence. Not to mention, there is no greater joy for them when their own eyes tell them what color things are. For this reason, it is indicated use of contact lenses or special glasses for colorblind people. Thanks to these special accessories, the patient recognizes colors easily.

To resort to this color blindness treatmentYou should see a medical specialist. This will test you for this disease, which will determine the degree of deficiency that your vision has and, therefore, will be able to know if color blindness glasses are the right option in your case.