El colorblindness It is an alteration of color vision that prevents a person from correctly distinguishing colors, does not recognize ranges of the same tone or confuses them with each other. Color vision is totally different in color blind people and many of them are unaware that this is the case because they were born with this condition.
Many people say that color blindness is a condition that only affects men: false. Both men and women can suffer from this chromatic disorder, either due to genetic causes or due to certain diseases that can occur throughout life.
En Área Oftalmológica Avanzada We answer one of the most common questions in the world: Is there color blindness in women?
Is there color blindness in women?
Color blindness is the alteration of color vision that affects 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women. Given the obvious preference of this condition for the male sex, there has always been a false belief that color blindness does not affect women.
El colorblindness is a condition that is almost always caused by hereditary cause and genetic origin. However, a person with normal color vision may begin to suffer from color blindness in adulthood due to other eye and systemic conditions.
In conclusion, yes there are colorblind women, although in a lower percentage than color blind men in the world. Later in this article we will explain why there is such an incidence of color blindness in males.
How does color blindness affect women?
Color blindness in women can affect in the same way as in men: compromising the correct color vision. To understand how color blindness occurs, you need to understand how color blindness works. visual system. We explain it to you below.
light entering the eye crosses the cornea and is projected on the retina. In the retina, light becomes a nerve signal that travels through the optic nerve to the brain, where it is transformed into an image.
The retina is a light-sensitive tissue that contains color-sensitive cells called cones. These cells are responsible for color vision and are classified into three types: one is sensitive to blue, another to red and finally to green. Any failure in the function of these cells, or the absence of them, can cause color blindness.
Why is color blindness more common in men than women?
Color blindness is an inherited disease of genetic origin that is caused by a gene related to the X chromosome. It is believed that 8% of men in the world suffer from color blindness vs 0,5% of women.
Why is color blindness more common in men than women? Hereditary and genetic color blindness is caused by a recessive gene that is passed on the X chromosome. Mothers have two X chromosomes and fathers have one X and one Y chromosome.
When an X chromosome pairs with another X the sex of the baby is female, and when an X chromosome pairs with a Y the sex is male. In male patients with hereditary color blindness It is the mother who is a carrier of the X chromosome..
Since females have two X chromosomes they are more likely to pass on the recessive gene their male children.
Genetics and color blindness in women
Unlike what happens with the male sex, parents with color blindness are the ones who pass on the recessive gene associated with the X chromosome in girls, and not in boys. Therefore, a girl who has received the gene from her father will only be a carrier of the gene, unless her mother also has it.
Having said this, we can conclude that, for a woman to be colorblind, you need to inherit the X chromosome gene from your mother and father. While a man can be color blind only by inheriting the X chromosome gene from his mother, which can be only a carrier and color blind.
Types of color blindness
There are several types of color blindness According to the cone cells that are affected or absent in the retina, let's see:
- anomalous trichromatic color blindness: in this condition the three types of cones work, but one of them works abnormally. These patients perceive altered color tones.
- Deuteranomaly: occurs when the affected cones are those sensitive to the color green.
- Protanomaly: occurs when the affected cones are those that are sensitive to the color red.
- Tritanomaly: It is the least common type of color blindness and occurs when cones sensitive to the color blue are affected.
- protanopia: it is the absence of cones sensitive to red color on the retina.
- deuteranopia: is the absence of green-sensitive cones in the retina.
- tritanopia: is the absence of blue-sensitive cones in the retina.
How to know if a girl is colorblind?
Most children born with color blindness they do not know that their color vision is different from that of the rest of the children. This makes it quite difficult to diagnose color blindness in children.
In most cases, parents and teachers are the ones who recognize that there is a problem in the child's perception of colors. This usually happens when the child studies the colors, makes the homework or play educational games, such as the chromatic order of colored blocks.
Early diagnosis of color blindness is important to prevent the child from experiencing delays in school or limitations in the practice of activities like painting and photography. It is also known that color blindness can cause difficulties when playing sports.
If you suspect that your child has a color perception problem, contact Área Oftalmológica Avanzada. In our ophthalmology center we have the best pediatric ophthalmologists and we will be happy to assist you.
