How Do You See Color?

The vision process is the same for every person. However, color perception is different in some people. Color perception (or the colors you see) depends on if parts of your eyes are working correctly. We mentioned the retina of the eye and how it is a light-sensitive tissue that communicates with the brain. This thin layer of tissue houses millions of microscopic light-sensing nerve cells that we call rods and cones. These are the cells that send impulses to your brain, interpreting colors from lightwaves.

The cones reside in the center of your retina. When they are exposed to bright light rays, they deliver sharp, clear vision with all the colors of the rainbow. They also help you to see objects in fine detail. Cones lie right in the middle of the retina tissue in a part we call the “macula”. The rods are another type of cell that lies just outside this center macula part of the retina. Rods reach the outer edge of your retina, basically meaning that the retina has two different types of cells that help you in color perception. Rods provide peripheral vision and act as motion sensors. These cells are also charged with helping you see at night or in dimly-lit locations.
 

Color Perception and Color Blindness

Rods and cones don’t work the same in every person. They may malfunction slightly, meaning your color perception is only a little off. However, severe forms of abnormal color perception are referred to as “color blindness”. This means that people with color blindness aren’t aware of specific color differences like the rest of the population is. You may see a stop sign as being bright red, while someone with red-green color blindness sees that stop sign as a hue of green. 8% of men and 0.5% of women have color blindness. In many cases, this trait is inherited by males from a mother who had genes for abnormal photopigments. This will make the cone cells work differently in the eye than they should.

There are three different types of color blindness:

• Red-green - This happens when your red cone is abnormal, meaning you either don’t have the red and green photopigments, or they have limited functions. Things that should look red, appear gray or green and things that should appear green look brownish-yellow. Most patients either have one cone missing or have limited function in one of their color perception cones.

• Blue-yellow - Your blue cone photopigments are either missing or only slightly work. Blue will appear greener than it is and yellow will look violet or gray.

• Total - This is total color-blindness, meaning you don’t see color at all. This color perception—or lack of it—is extremely rare.
   

Get Your Eyes Tested

If you have color blindness, you may or may not realize that your color perception is different than others. The colors you see are natural to you until you get your eyes tested and find out that your color perception is off. We have tests to see what color perception you have. Once we test you, we can help you know how to improve your vision and your color perception. Patients with color blindness can receive special glasses through our office that help them to see colors correctly. Many people don’t know they have color blindness unless their eyes are tested by a professional eye doctor. To have your vision test today, schedule a consultation with Optical Masters by calling (720) 780-8881!