Conclusion

I hope you have enjoyed my blog and I hope you have learned a lot. If you have any questions just put them in the comments. Thanks!

Cool!

If you can the pattern in this, then you are probably colorblind. This is called a reverse colorblindness test.

                                                                         It spells out NO

Interesting Facts

Here are some interesting facts I found while doing my research.

• There is a rare form of colorblindness called unilateral dichromacy in which a person has one normal eye and one colorblind eye. 
• People with colorblindness might see texture and patterns better
• People with colorblindness dream in the colorblindness they see.
• People with red-green colorblindness sometimes have trouble with 3-D movies.

Source:http://www.archimedes-lab.org/colorblindnesstest.html. 

Interesting Facts

Here are some interesting facts I found while doing my research.

• There is a rare form of colorblindness called unilateral dichromacy in which a person has one normal eye and one colorblind eye. 
• People with colorblindness might see texture and patterns better
• People with colorblindness dream in the colorblindness they see.
• People with red-green colorblindness sometimes have trouble with 3-D movies.

Source:http://www.archimedes-lab.org/colorblindnesstest.html. 

Can Colorblindness Get Worse Over Time.

The answer is.....NO. Colorblindness cannot get worse, or better for that matter, over time. This is because it is a genetic disorder.

Source http://health.msn.com/health-topics/vision/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100063540

What are the possible genotypes of the parent?

I already mentioned the possibly genotypes of the parents in the post What are the chances of a person with this disease passing the disease to their offspring.

What is a Genetic Counselor and is one needed for Colorblindness.

A genetic counselor interprets a family's medical history to discover the chance of a disease recurrence or a disease occurrence. A genetic counselor needs a master of science in genetic counseling. They also must be good translators of genomes so people can understand them.  The job is to increase understanding of genetic diseases, to discuss options, and to explain risks.

Some people question whether a genetic counselor is needed for colorblindness. In my personal opinion, I think they should be consulted. If I were a parent, I would want to know what I was getting into, what kind of colorblindness they might have, and how to deal with it. Also, you might discover some hidden disorder that you were not aware of. Recessive disorders skip generations so you might be in for a surprise.

Genetic counseling info from http://www.genetichealth.com/resources_what_is_genetic_counseling.shtml

What is everyday life like?

For a colorblind person (like me), going through life is almost as easy as the average Joe. Sure, we might not be able to match our clothes as well, but we can manage.There is almost no problem in everyday life because this isn't a painful or life threatening disease. However, the hardest time for a colorblind person is elementary school (I speak from experience). I hated art class, and the art teacher hated me. She always thought I was goofing around when I messed up colors, but she never caught on that I was colorblind and I never summed up the courage to tell her. Some other strange things that people take for granted can really be a problem for colorblind people. For instance, most people can tell when their meat is done, color deficient people may not be able to tell the difference between a rare or an uncooked meat. Along the same lines, color deficient people may not be able to tell the ripeness of fruit.

In conclusion, we color blind people generally get through life pretty easy, and it is surprising how many people think it is cool that you are colorblind.

Sources: http://www.archimedes-lab.org/colorblindnesstest.html

Support Organizations

There are not many organizations that help families cope with colorblindness because it is not a serious condition. If your child is colorblind and wants to know more about it, go to http://kidshealth.org/kid/talk/qa/color_blind.html.

This is also a good place to go if you have some questions as a parent  http://colorvisiontesting.com/color7.htm#questions from parents.

How is the disease diagnosed?

The disease is often suspected by seeing a child having trouble with colors, however, this is not always a sure sign of color blindness. To have a professional check you, go to an eyedoctor, or take one of the many tests online, such as http://colorvisiontesting.com/. The online and the eyedoctor both use the Ishihara test, and the test is very successful in diagnosing what kind of colorblindness you might have. The Ishihara test was devoloped by Shinobu Ishihara while working at the Military Medical School in order to screen military recruits for abnormalities. A collection of thirty-eight plates filled with colored dots fill the base of this test. The dots are colored in different shades and a number or shape is hidden inside with shades of another color. An example of one would be the boat I put in a previous entry.

Source for Ishihara http://www.archimedes-lab.org/colorblindnesstest.html

What is the possibility that a cure will be found?

There is currently not a cure to colorblindness, but I have discussed some treatments in a previous entry. I have found an article that is very interesting and enlightening. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,802584,00.html

What limitations does a person with colorblindness have?

The only limitations most people believe that a colorblind person has is the fact that they cannot see like the average person. This is true however this is more of an annoyance than a real issue or limitation.  Still, here are some examples of limitations I run into. I often have problem with picking out my clothes. Simply put, I don't know what is complimentary and what is not. I also have problems with maps and their color-coded legends.

As I start driving, I'll encounter the most dangerous risk a colorblind person can have,  traffic lights. They call it red-green colorblindness for a reason folks! 1 out of 14 colorblind males struggle with the issue of differentiating stop from go. Interestingly enough, if you are a colorblind person, you may be able to drive better at night since you are using your rods instead of your cones.

A huge problem for colorblind people is trouble finding work. For instance, a colorblind person might not be able to get a pilot's licence or be able to drive a train or boat. Like I mentioned before, a colorblind person could wear the color helping glasses to help with the some problems.

In conclusion, sometimes colorblindness can be a huge problem, like in differentiating different traffic lights. Sometimes, it can be a minor annoyance, and sometimes we don't notice it at all. I just hope everyone realizes a color blind individual's quirks and helps them out.

Source: http://www.uic.edu/com/eye/LearningAboutVision/EyeFacts/ColorBlindness.shtml
            http://www.archimedes-lab.org/colorblindnesstest.html

What are some physical symptoms of this disease?

The obvious symptom of being color deficient is lacking the wavelength perception (which I mentioned in an earlier post) to see some shades of color. According to WebMd, there are three kinds of symptoms of color blindness. These are:  1)being able to see many colors and you might not even know you have a problem  2) being able to see only a few shades of color and 3) in rare cases, seeing in monochrome.

What is the chance of passing this disease to your offspring?

This disease, like I mentioned before, is not as prevalent in females as it is in males. Here is why.

If a father is colorblind, but not the mother (she is not even a carrier), then no male children will be colorblind and all female offspring will be carriers. If the father is colorblind but the mother is a carrier, then there is a 25% chance that a female child will be colorblind, a 25% chance that a female will be a carrier, a 25% chance that a male child will be colorblind, and a 25% chance that a male will not be colorblind. If a fully colorblind male marries a fully colorblind female, then all children will be colorblind. Lastly, if a mother is a carrier but the father is not colorblind, there is a 50% chance that the female children will be carriers, and a 50% chance that male children will be affected.

Image per Biology Corner                                                  

How can this disease be treated?

Colorblindness, being a genetic disorder, has no sure treatment. The closest thing to a treatment is a pair of glasses that allows you to see colors better. However, most vendors of these are really just running a scam. Not much research is being put forward because color deficiency is not a life threatening disease/disorder.

In my personal opinion, I wouldn't buy these glasses unless your colorblindness is causing huge problems at work. As for me, I like my colorblindness because it makes me different, but not to the point where you are uncool. I guess you would call it a cool kind of weird.

Glasses information from colorvisiontesting.com 

Life Expectancy

As you would expect, the life expectancy for a person that is color deficient is the same as someone who does not have the disorder. This is because the disorder only affects the eyes and does not adversely affect any other body part.

Oddly enough, colorblind people who are in the army can see snipers better than other soldiers.  You might could argue it would actually increase their life expectancy.

Interesting Note

Interesting to see how colorblind people see the American flag

From Wikipedia

Prevalence of Colorblindness

It is quite astounding the amount of males that are colorblind. Overall, about 8% of the male population is colorblind. Only about 0.5% of the female population is affected by this genetic disorder.

Before we break down the colorblind population by type, let's talk about rods and cones for a moment.

The retina is made up of rods and cones. Cones are good in daytime conditions, but rods are good in night conditions. Cones are the only one that can perceive color. If a person's cone wavelength (which is usually 400 to 700 nm) is wrong because of genetics, then tne person will be sensitive to different wavelengths which makes them colorblind. The three types of cones are L, M, and S-- Long, Medium, and Short, respectively.

A breakdown of the type of colorblindness is as follows:
Monochromacy - These are the truly color blind.  They only see differences in lightness and can't distinguish any color hue at all. To have this type of colorblindness, you must inherit a gene for the disorder from both parents.  This is very rare and is estimated to be about 3 in a million.
Protanomaly - (about 1% of males) These are people who are red weak due to a weakness in the long wavelength (L) cones.  Red, orange, yellow and yellow-green appear paler and more green.  Violet and lavender are also a problem and may appear blue.
Protanopia  - (about 1% of males) Similar to above but these people have a lack of reciptors in the long wavelength (L) cones. This means brightness is affected as well.
Deuteranomaly - (about 5% of males) These people are green weak.  This is similar to protanomaly. People with this are poor at discriminating small differences between hues in red, orange, yellow and green region of the spectrum. The weakness in the cones for this type of colorblindness is in the medium (M) wavelength cones.
Deuteranopia -(about 1% of males) Same as protanopia but without brightness being affected. This is due to a lack of receptors in the medium (M) wavelength cones.
Tritanopia - (not common) Under this category, blues and greens can be confused, and yellows are sometimes seen as lighter shades of red. This is due to a lack of receptors to short (S) wavelength cones.

Sources per www.colorvisiontesting.com
                   www.tedmontgomery.com/the_eye/macula.html
                   http://webaim.org/articles/visual/colorblind

Colorblindness Test

Neat test to see if you are colorblind... Can you see the boat?  If not, you may be colorblind.

 Picture from the Color Vision Test

How Does a Person Inherit This Disorder?

A person inherits colorblindness through the X gene. This is always passed down by the mother, so you can blame her if you have it. The reason she might not show symptoms is because female's 23rd chromosome is XX while males are XY. If females have the colorblindness gene in one X, then she has the other X (the dominant allele) to back her up. That is why males are more often colorblind than females, they don't have another X to back them up.

 For example, my biological father ( I am adopted) was not colorblind but my mother was heterozygous (click for definition) for the gene, so she had one bad X and one good X. I got passed this bad X.

Oddly enough, colorblindness can also be caused by diseases, medications, or chemicals. However, we will keep this blog about inherited colorblindness.

Sources acquired from the Genetic Disorders Library
Image per Biology Corner                                                  

Start Up

I have just started up my blog, and as you can tell, it is about colorblindness. I am a colorblind individual and would like to talk to all you other vision deficient people out there and enlighten the people who don't have this genetic disorder.

With each entry I will answer questions relating to this disorder. While this is a project for a biology course that I am taking currently, this is also something I have been wanting to do for a long time. For you people, like me, that are tired of others asking you, "What color is this?!", hopefully this blog will answer all their questions.

One note as you read the following pages.  Sometimes I refer to this genetic problem as colorblindess while sometimes I refer to it as color deficiency or color vision problem.  They all refer to the same thing.  Color vision is the most medically correct term but colorblindess is more commonly used.