Color blindness, also known as color vision deficiency, is a condition that affects an estimated 8% of men and 0.5% of women worldwide. It is a genetic disorder that impairs an individual’s ability to distinguish colors.

How Does Color Blindness Work?

The human eye has cone cells that are responsible for color vision. Cone cells detect and interpret different colors and send signals to the brain that allow us to see color.

Depending on the type of color blindness, certain cone cells might not work correctly or might be missing altogether. This can affect an individual’s ability to distinguish between certain colors.

Color blindness can be classified into three types:.

1. Deuteranomaly

This is the most common type of color blindness and affects around 5% of the population. People with deuteranomaly have difficulty distinguishing between greens, yellows, and reds.

They might see these colors as being similar or sometimes even as the same. This type of color blindness is more common in men than women.

2. Protanomaly

This type of color blindness affects approximately 1% of males and less than 1% of females. Individuals with protanomaly have difficulty distinguishing between blues and greens and may see reds as being less bright than people with normal vision.

Those with protanomaly might also confuse colors that are different shades of the same hue.

3. Tritanomaly

This type of color blindness is the rarest and affects approximately 0.02% of the population. Individuals with tritanomaly have difficulty distinguishing between blues and greens and may see yellow and red as the same color.

They may also have trouble distinguishing between shades of purple and blue.