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Color blindness, also known as dyschromatopsia or dyschromopsia, is a change in vision in which the person cannot quite distinguish some colors, especially green from red. This change is in most cases genetic, however it can also arise as a result of damage to the structure of the eyes or neurons responsible for vision.
Color blindness has no cure, however, the person's lifestyle can be adapted to have a life close to normal and without difficulties, and the use of glasses for color blindness, for example, may be indicated by the ophthalmologist. The diagnosis of this alteration can be made through tests that allow assessing the person's ability to differentiate colors. See how the tests are to confirm color blindness.
How to identify color blindness
The diagnosis of color blindness is made through tests that can be performed at home, at school or during the consultation with the ophthalmologist and which consists of identifying numbers or paths that are present in images with different color patterns. Thus, according to the person's ability to identify what is contained in the images, the ophthalmologist can confirm the diagnosis and indicate the type of color blindness the person has, namely:
- Achromatic color blindness: also known as monochromatic, it is the rarest type of color blindness, in which the person sees in black, white and gray, not seeing other colors;
- Dichromatic color blindness: the person does not have a color receiver and, therefore, is unable to identify the colors red, green or blue;
Trichomatic color blindness: it is the most common type, where the person has a slight difficulty in distinguishing colors since the person has all the color receptors but they do not work well. The colors that are usually affected are red, green and blue with their different shades.
The types of color blindness are classified according to the difficulty in seeing a certain set of colors, and should always be diagnosed by the ophthalmologist.
How is the treatment
Color blindness has no cure, however the treatment indicated by the ophthalmologist can improve the person's quality of life and may be recommended:
1. ADD system to identify colors
Learning the color identification system called ADD is the best way to live with color blindness. This system catalogs each color with a symbol, helping the colorblind to 'see' the colors, in a simple way, increasing his self-esteem and improving his quality of life.
While this system is not yet mandatory, what you can do is ask for help from someone who is not color blind to help write the appropriate symbol on the labels of clothes and shoes, as well as pens and colored pencils so that whenever the colorblind see the symbols know how to identify their color.
The ADD coding system is similar to the Braille language for the visually impaired and has been used in some countries.
2. Color blind glasses
A good way to live with color blindness is to buy special glasses for color blindness, which adapts the colors so that the color blind see the colors as they really are.
There are 2 types of lenses, one of which is indicated for people who cannot see the red colors, which is the Cx-PT model, and the other for those who cannot see green, which is the Cx-D model. However, a glass that can be indicated for those who do not identify all colors has not yet been created.
Created by: Tua Saúde Editorial Team