Daltonism

Daltonism is a vision defect that prevents the eye from recognizing the color of green and distinguishing between red, yellow and orange. Daltonists have problems with finding a job because of this ailment and they face obstacles to everyday life at every step. Daltonism is hereditary, occurs almost exclusively in men.

What is color blindness?

Daltonism is a congenital defect that makes the eye can not recognize the green color and has problems in the distinction of red, orange and yellow. In short, daltonism is a disturbed perception of colors. In partial dalmatism we are dealing with partial colorism. The name of the disease comes from the English physicist and chemist John Dalton, who was the first to notice that he sees the individual colors completely differently than the other people (green is red for him). Although he described his vision defect, no one from the doctors was able to explain to him where this disorder is coming from. In 1994, studies were conducted at the Institute of Ophthalmology in London, which proved that the incorrect vision of colors comes from poor retinal construction (the lack of one of the photoreceptors responsible for seeing the red color).

Partial daltonism is a variation of daltonizmu especially troublesome in childhood, when children compete with each other and may have problems with grades at school and with self-esteem - preschoolers and first graders in their drawings, for example, paint red grass.

The ailment mainly occurs in men, color blindness is less common in women. Daltonists are injured in everyday life and cannot perform many professions.

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Daltonism is a genetically conditioned disadvantage of sight. It is inherited recessively in conjunction with the X chromosome (thus the gene responsible for colorblindness is located on the X chromosome). Since men have only one X chromosome in the genetic code (XY), and women have two X chromosomes (XX) - the risk of this condition is greater in men.

The human eye has three types of suppositories. They are sensitized to blue, green and red. The human eye sees the color when the suppositories register different amounts of these three main colors. Most suppositories are located in the macula, which in turn is located in the central part of the retina.

Other causes of daltonizmu

1. Daltonism may be a consequence of previous diseases of the visual and retinal pathways.

2. Daltonism in most cases occurs from birth (it is an inherited defect). It appears when the eye is missing suppositories or when their functioning is incorrect.

3. Daltonism can also be an acquired disorder associated with:

• eye diseases, e.g. cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration;
• eye injury, damage to the visual pathways, e.g. the retina of the eye;
• aging;
• taking certain medications (complication), e.g. psychoactive substances.

Types of color blindness

Monochronism - it is a total lack of ability to distinguish colors. This disease is very rare and at the same time the most serious type. People suffering from monochromism see everything around like in a black and white film. The disease is caused by a complete underdevelopment of retinal suppositories and is associated with problems of adaptation to light and very low visual acuity.

Dichromaticism - occurs due to the missing photoreceptor, the patient does not completely distinguish between green or red.

Trichromatism - is characterized by a difference in the sensitivity of suppositories in the retina, as a consequence, it reduces the saturation of one of the colors.

Symptoms of color blindness

Symptoms that accompany complaints vary from one another depending on the form of the disease. A Daltonist may recognize many applause and not be aware that he sees them completely differently than other people. Some people who suffer from color blindness see only a few colors while healthy people distinguish thousands of them. There are (rarely) cases in which a color-blind person distinguishes only three colors: black, white and gray.

Daltonism and everyday life

In street traffic, daltonists are extremely dangerous for themselves and for others. People who see well, colors from a greater distance notice the light of signaling lamps and brakes. There are frequent cases when someone, due to color-blindness, crosses the railway tracks despite the semaphore lamp glowing in red. People often confuse notions: color blindness (trichromatyzm, also called partial daltonism) and color blindness (dichromatyzm, also called daltonizmem). The main difference is that in the case of visually impaired colors (partial daltonistów) all the suppositories work, while in a blind person (color blind) suppositories green or red in general are functional.

Daltonism - diagnostics

Daltonism is recognized on the basis of specialized eye examinations using colored pseudo-chromatic plates. Another ophthalmological examination, much more accurate, is the examination to which the anomalyoscope is used. The patient must compare two colors during the examination.

There are also various types of tests:

• using cards with pictures composed of colored dots forming a shape - the subject is asked to read these pictures. Thanks to this method, the specialist can easily assess which color the patient is in trouble with,
• using colored tokens - the task of the patient is to organize them on the basis of the similarity of colors. If the subject has a disorder, he will not be able to perform this task correctly.

Daltonism - treatment

It is not possible to cure innate color blindness, only some disorders can be corrected. Treatment also depends on the cause of color blindness, if the disease was caused by, for example, cataracts - the surgery will help to regain adequate color perception.

Daltonism can be corrected by appropriate lenses, constructed so as to evoke in the eye stimuli to which the person seeing and distinguishing all colors reacts. By wearing corrective lenses, the color blind will see shades that he had not noticed before. In patients with partial color blindness it is even possible to completely correct the color's amblyopia.

How to get glasses correcting the color's amblyopia (partial daltonism):

At the ophthalmologist or in the optician's salon, the amblyopia can be measured.

• Reserve about half an hour for measurement. It is made using the appropriate atlas with colored pictures.
• Based on the result of the test, corrective lenses will be selected. Due to the need to individually match the lenses to the defect, it may be necessary to wait several days or weeks for the implementation of appropriate corrective lenses.