The difference between color blindness and color weakness

Color blindness and color weakness are relatively common medical terms. There are differences between them. What they have in common is abnormal color vision, which is generally caused by congenital genetic reasons. There are relatively few acquired reasons. There are many types of color blindness, such as red-green blindness, and color weakness refers to the poor ability to distinguish colors, not the inability to distinguish colors like color blindness.

The difference between color blindness and color weakness

1. Color blindness, like color weakness, is a manifestation of abnormal color vision. It is usually congenital and inherited, and acquired cases are relatively rare. Color blindness and color weakness are both hereditary diseases, and according to the laws of genetics, they are more common in males than in females. When it comes to career choices, color vision abnormalities are subject to many restrictions. For example, patients with red-green color blindness cannot distinguish between red and green, so they cannot get a driver's license or engage in color-sensitive work.

2. Although color blindness and color weakness are both manifestations of abnormal color vision, they are essentially very different. For example, color blindness refers to the inability to distinguish colors. Take red and green color blindness as an example. Due to the lack of red-sensitive visual pigment red blood cells or green-sensitive visual pigment cells on the retina of the eye, the eyes are insensitive to red and green light and cannot distinguish red or green light.

3. Red and green color blindness cannot distinguish between red and green. Usually, the only colors these people see are blue and yellow. This is also the biggest reason why red and green color blindness patients cannot get a driver's license. In addition, there is a condition called total color blindness. People with this condition lack photoreceptor cells on their retina and cannot distinguish any colors. They can only see black, white and gray.

4. Color deficiency refers to the poor ability to distinguish colors, which is not the same as color blindness, which is the inability to distinguish colors. For example, patients with red-green deficiency and green-green deficiency have abnormal red-sensitive visual pigments in their erythrocytes or rate-sensitive visual pigments in their retina, which makes their eyes less sensitive to red and green light, and their effect in distinguishing red and green light is relatively poor.

5. Regardless of whether it is a man or a woman, color deficiency can be mild or severe. Severe color deficiency patients are equivalent to mild color blind patients, and their ability to distinguish colors will be very poor. However, most mild color deficiency patients do not need treatment and have a sense of color, but it is difficult for them to distinguish colors. Color deficiency, like color blindness, affects more men than women.

Why does color weakness or color blindness occur?

1. The structure of the human eye is very complex and ingenious. The main reason why our world looks colorful is that there is a macula in the central fovea of ​​the retina, and in the macula there are three types of cone sensory cells that can distinguish different colors. These cone sensory cells contain different spectral color bands, and they can distinguish red light, green light and blue light. These three cells respond to light to varying degrees, allowing our eyes to use the spectrum of these three primary colors to sense all colors.

2. If you are born lacking these three types of cone cells, you will not be able to distinguish colors and will become color blind. Other eye diseases, if they cause optic nerve or retinal lesions, or lesions in the macula, will also damage the cone cells, which will cause color blindness or color weakness.