Color Vision Deficiency

Color vision defects can either be congenital or acquired.  Congenital color defects are red-green abnormalities often passed on to a gene on the X-chromosome, affecting 5-8% of males and 0.5% of females. Acquired defects are often the blue-yellow type.

Very few individuals with color vision defects will confuse pure red with pure green, rather pastel pinks or yellows with greens.  Likewise blue-yellow deficient individuals will tend to confuse pastel or dark blues and greens. If you have a blue-yellow defect, work-up for the possibility of an acquired disease should be done.

Presently there is no cure for congenital color vision deficiency.  Most individuals do well with their vision and function normally.  A visit to your ophthalmologist will help identify the type of color vision deficiency and exclude any acquired disease.