Color blindness in women: symptoms and treatment

The violation of color perception was first described in 1794. English natural scientist John Dalton, and from this time the visual defect was called color blindness. The state of color immunity can be congenital or acquired and in women it is much less common than in men.

Definition of disease

To understand the reason for this uneven distribution (for men - 2-8%, for women - in,%), it is necessary to get at least a superficial understanding of the nature of a possible defect. Here we should make a reservation - these figures relate exclusively to innate color blindness.

Acquired inability to discern colors, it meets with the same frequency, both in men and in women.

The human eye transmits to the brain an image formed on the central part of the retina inside the eye from the side opposite the pupil.It is there that the macula (yellow spot) is connected to the central optic nerve and is a set of nerve cells in the form of cones.

In each cell there is a certain amount of color pigment: red, blue, green.All other colors are derived from these three. When there is a lack of any pigment, a certain set of colors falls out of the color perception. Very rarely is color blindness complete, when the eye does not distinguish any color.

Programming of color perception is carried out by the X-chromosome, which in men is one, and in women - two.Therefore, when transferring to a man by inheritance of a chromosome with a defect, there is nothing to replace, but for women, its function is assumed by another X chromosome. That is why in men, color blindness of varying degrees occurs 20 times more often.

Causes

Hereditary color blindness in women can appear in the exceptional case, when the carrier of the damaged gene is both parents, and the transmission occurs on both sides. But the female carrier at the birth of a son must pass him his gene with a defect.

In the case of acquired color blindness, a defect can occur in the following types of diseases:

• Damage to the retina or optic nerve;
• Diabetic macular degeneration;
• Traumatic injuries;
• Effect of strong chemicals;
• Pathologies associated with brain damage.

Such lesions are most often present whencataract, Parkinson's disease, Leber's optical neuropathy(exclusively male disease).

In addition, the color perception can be affected by painful conditions, burdened by a change in the color of the transparent eyes, as well as caused by the use of certain medications.

As a rule, in these cases there is a violation in the color perception of the yellow and blue hues. A characteristic feature is also the initial development of a defect in only one eye.

Symptoms

Depending on the degree of damage during daltonism, one, two or all three colors may not be perceived:

• Achromasia- Perception of all colors is broken;
• Monochromasia- there is no perception of two colors. Additional signs - photophobia and nystagmus (involuntary vibrational movements of the eyes of high frequency);
• Dichromasia- the easiest manifestation of color blindness. In this case, there is no perception of one color. Depending on the perception of color falling out of the spectrum, protonopia is distinguished (there is no red, most often), deuteranopia (no green), tritanopia (no blue, and also twilight vision).

The term "trichromasia" is the absence of color blindness, but if it is present, it is called anomalous trichromasia.When a person is not able to distinguish between colors and their shades, his visual perception occupies a position somewhere between normal trichromasia and dichromasia and is called anomalous dichromasia. Accordingly, with violations in the perception of different colors, distinguish protomanomaly (red), deuteranomaliyu (green) and tritanomaliyu (blue).

Sometimes the lack of perception of a color is compensated by an increased susceptibility to the shades of the other.

Possible complications

Color blindness does not affect the physical state of health.However, the lack of color perception, even to a small extent, can limit a person's ability to master certain professions if they wish: drivers, pilots, sailors, doctors. The lives of many people depend on the quality of the performance of job duties in these occupations, so here 100% vision and color perception are a must.

Children with a violation of color perception may have psychological problems, but this can be a complication of only a temporary nature and communication with peers.

Treatment

The most commonly used method for diagnosing is using the Rabkin's polychromatic tables.In total, there are 27 sheets with colored circles of the same brightness, but slightly different in color. In most cases, the tables show figures that are easy to consider for a patient with normal vision. However, if any pigment in the cone of the macula is missing or insufficient, the eye of such a patient will not be able to distinguish the numbers or other symbols shown on the tables. Either they will be difficult to distinguish.

In diagnostics, other methods can be used: tables Justova, Ishihara, etc. With the use of special instruments, studies can be carried out on the apparatus of Ebnea and Girenberg, Nagel's anomaloscope, Rabkin's spectroanomaloscope, and others.

Medication Therapy

If the defect appeared as a result of hereditary factors, then elimination by any means is not feasible. The only positive point is the fact that in most cases the pathology does not progress.

For acquired color blindness, there are several methods of correction, but not complete:

• With a mild form of the disease the doctor can write out special glasses for color-blinds with the function of blocking bright light.This helps to better perceive colors in a subdued light;
• In order to facilitate the difference in colors, glasses with specially colored lenses, however, there is some distortion of perceived objects, besides, the effect of normal color perception is only partially achieved;
• In some cases, color blindness appears due to the development of cataracts- then surgical treatment for the removal of the lens is recommended;
• When there is color blindness due to taking medications, you should cancel the treatment for restore color perception, find out the component that has affected negatively, and make a replacement drugs for an analog.

If color blindness appeared as a result of trauma, then the probability of returning full color perception after eliminating the cause of mechanical damage is high.

To date, experiments to introduce the missing pigment into the retina with the help of the virus are carried out on animals, and quite successfully. However, the use of such funds in humans has not yet been authorized.

Prevention

The carrier of the defective gene, inherited, is a woman whose father was colorblind.Therefore, the probability of transfer to her son of the color blindness gene is quite large. One should also take into account the fact that the bearer herself may not have any problems with color perception. Determine the presence of a defective gene is simple enough by using DNA analysis.

Prevent development of acquired color blindness by observing certain precautions:

• If possible, avoid traumatic eye injuries;
• When carrying a potential threat to the eyes, wear protective goggles;
• Take medicines only for medical purposes, and in the absence of such - always carefully study the instructions, especially contraindications.

Since most problems occur in men, if hereditary factors can be produced prenatal (early in pregnancy) diagnosis and if parents want, pregnancy can be interrupted.

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conclusions

Color blindness, or violation of color perception, in women is much less common than in men, for genetic reasons. However, acquired color blindness is equally common in both sexes.

Violation of color perception does not refer to pathological conditions in the usual sense, as it is not accompanied by the progression of symptoms and does not affect physical health as a whole.

For people with varying degrees of color blindness, there may be restrictions in some occupations, but color blindness does not have a significant effect on the quality of life. Some child may experience psychological discomfort until he learns to live with a broken color perception.

However, do not forget thatsome great people had this vision defect, which did not prevent them from becoming famous, and among them there were even artists.

Also read about such congenital anomalies of the visual system, as aphakia and heterochromia with coloboma.