How Does Color Blindness Work

Many of us go throughout our days experiencing life in every shade of color imaginable, watching colors outside change as the seasons pass or even something as simple as getting the full experience from movies and videos played in full color. With this being said, it is hard to imagine having limited color vision. Even without realizing it, many people throughout the world are color blind, with estimates placing the number somewhere around 300 million people who are affected across the globe. With this said, you might be asking yourself, “How does color blindness work?” The experts from Pilestone can help clarify this for you!

The easiest way to explain how color blindness works is to say that color blindness is when someone is unable to see colors in the way that most people with normal vision can; however, the science behind this phenomenon is much more complex. Colorblindness is sometimes taken in the literal sense that you are blind from seeing any color, and while this is rare (known as monochromacy), in most cases, people affected by color blindness only have a select range of colors that are impossible for them to see.

So how does color blindness work within your eyes and brain? To put it simply, within the retinas in your eyes, you have two different types of cells known as “rods” and “cones.” While rods are responsible for detecting light and dark, your cones are the ones that detect different colors in the light hitting your eyes. The light that normally touches your eyes is seen as white or containing every color within it. When this light enters your eye, different cones are used to detect three different colors—red, blue, and green—at which point can then be translated into every color imaginable when combined in the right way. Sometimes your cones may overlap, meaning that your red and green cones aren’t able to do their job properly, leaving you with a muddled view of reds and greens, but leaving your blue vision undisturbed. Since there are different combinations of colors that can be created, there are also various types of color blindness, including red-green, yellow-orange, green-brown, pink-grey, blue-yellow, or blue-purple. If you experience any of these options, you have no reason to worry because Pilestone has color blind glasses to help!

For more information on how color blindness works, get in touch with us today or start browsing our shop to find glasses for you.