Color Blindness

Home Treatment

Color blindness can have a significant impact on your life. Many common activities rely on signs or signals that are color-coded, such as traffic signs, signal lights, and maps. Choosing clothing with appropriate matching or complementary colors can also be more of a challenge.

In many cases, there are ways to help compensate for your inability to see or distinguish colors by the way you observe things or by watching other people's actions. You may rely on brightness or location rather than color to identify objects. For example, you can learn the order of the three colored lights on a traffic signal and know that if the bottom light is lit, it means that the light is green and it is safe to go.

Color vision problems can affect learning abilities and reading development. Children may try to hide the fact that they cannot see certain colors by watching other classmates or even copying their work. Not being able to tell the difference between colors can be a serious problem for children and can lead to poor class work and low self-esteem.

• Testing for color vision problems during routine vision screening may help a child avoid having trouble in school. If your child is having trouble in school, have his or her vision, including color vision, checked by an eye doctor.
• If your child has color vision problems, it is important that his or her teacher be aware of this. Even simple things like reading yellow chalk on a green board can be hard for a child with color vision problems.
• You may want to offer suggestions to your child's teacher about how to help your child see better. This can include using a different color chalk or seating your child where there is no glare from bright lights. You can test your child at home with different colors of chalk, pens, and paper to find out which colors are easiest for your child to see.

Color vision problems may limit career choices. For example, color photographers, interior and clothing designers, and painters need normal color vision. Laws prohibit people with severe color vision problems from holding certain jobs, such as airline pilot, police officer, and some positions in the military.

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Author:	Robin Parks, MS	Last Updated: October 31, 2007
Medical Review:	Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine Carol L. Karp, MD - Ophthalmology
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