The 3 types of color blindness (and its characteristics)

April 23, 2024

The diagnosis of color blindness or blindness , although it is relatively easy to detect, it often goes unnoticed for many years and is only reflected in a casual exposure to an Ishihara test or to an exam like the typical driver's license.

Although it may sound strange, is what happens in a lot of cases: we do not stop to think about how we see, we just do it and we think that our color, for example, blue is the same as what other people perceive.

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Brief definition of color blindness

Color blindness or blindness is a genetic disorder in which the sufferer does not have the same number of cone types in his visual system or he has them but they are altered.

This is because we do not have the necessary elements to capture the wave frequencies that cause us to capture light in the form of different colors, which is due to sensory cells called cones.

While most people have three types of cones (one for red, one for green and one for blue) and even in some women have been detected four (although this is very unusual), the colorblind will have three or at least one of them altered or less.

This means that we can not capture the wave frequency necessary to capture certain colors , perceiving the stimulation under a different wave frequency. In this way, the subject will not be able to appreciate a color and those linked to it, perceiving them as if they were others.

The different types of color blindness

Color blindness can occur in different modalities, depending on the type of pigments that are not available or that are altered. Specifically there are three main types of color blindness, which are discussed below .

1. Achromatism

It is a very unusual condition. Achromatism or monochromatism appears when the subject does not have any pigment or the cones in question are not functional at all. The vision in this case is based on the information extracted from the cells that capture the luminosity, the sticks, being only grayscale, black and white.

2. Dicromatism

Usually, When we think of someone with color blindness, we tend to identify him with someone who suffers from dichromatism . It is understood as such the type of color blindness caused by the absence of one of the types of pigments, so it is not possible to perceive neither the color in question nor the colors associated with it (for example, if someone can not see the color red it will also have altered the perception of the orange). In this case the wave frequency that allows the perception of the color can not be captured, so that the pigment that captures the nearest wave frequency will perform its function, causing the colors to be confused.

Within dichromatism we can identify three basic types.

2.1. Protanopia

The subject can not capture the wave frequencies that allow to see the red color, which has a long wave frequency. The color red tends to be perceived as beige or gray, sometimes with greenish tones. If the sling frequency is very high, yellow is perceived.

2.2. Tritanopia

The least common of the types of dichromatism, affecting the perception of shortwave frequencies. The person suffering from tritanopia does not have the pigment corresponding to the blue color, which is often confused with green. Likewise, yellows tend to look like red, violet or white.

2.3. Deuteranopia

It is the most common type of color blindness along with protanopia. In this case, it lacks the green pigment, unable to capture wave frequencies of that color (which would be average wave frequencies). The green is not captured, generally seen as a beige color. The perception of red also tends to be affected, having brownish tones.

3. Abnormal trichromatism

The anomalous trichromatism occurs when the person in question has the same three types of pigments as most of the population, but nevertheless at least one is altered and is not functional . Although it is possible that if they have a slight perception of non-functional color, they need the stimulation to be very intense to be able to capture it, being more likely that their vision is similar to that of a dichromat.

Within this type of color blindness we can find three subtypes depending on which of the pigments is not functional.

3.1. Protanomaly

In this case, the subject is able to perceive the colors green and blue normally, but red is not assimilated and captured normally.

3.2. Tritanomaly

The blue is not captured correctly, being easy to be confused with others depending on the wave frequency that is captured. Red and green are normally captured.