Can you prevent color blindness

Usually, color blindness runs in families. The most common type of color blindness makes it hard to tell the difference between red and green. Another type makes it hard to tell the difference between blue and yellow. The main symptom of color blindness is not seeing colors the way most people do. Symptoms of color blindness are often so mild that you may not notice them. People with very serious cases of color blindness might have other symptoms, too — like quick side-to-side eye movements nystagmus or sensitivity to light.

Men have a much higher risk than women for color blindness. It can be tricky to diagnose color blindness in children. Kids who are color blind might try to hide it. Get your child tested if they have a family history of color blindness or if they seem to be having trouble learning colors.

You also may be able to get your child tested at school. Color blindness can also happen because of damage to your eye or your brain. And color vision may get worse as you get older — often because of cataracts cloudy areas in the lens of the eye. During the test, your eye doctor will show you a circle made of many different colored dots. To understand prevention, we need to look at acquired colorblindness, that is, people who become colorblind at some time after birth.

Optic nerve disease disorders of tissues which connect the back of the eye to the brain , and stroke inside the eye blockage of arteries in the back of your eye are disorders that can cause colorblindness. Eye conditions like macular degeneration breakdown of tissues in the back of the eye and cataract clouding of the lens inside the eye can cause acquired abnormalities in color vision.

Regular comprehensive eye examinations as directed by your ophthalmologist are important precautions. There are a few medications such as thorazine, mellaril, myambutol, and barbituates that can cause colorblindness.

While using these medications, close monitoring by your health care team is essential. Lastly, there are a few toxic chemicals such as carbon monoxide, carbon disulfide and lead, among others, that can produce colorblindness so proper monitoring of exposure to these chemicals is important. Ask a New Question. Not every question will receive a direct response from an ophthalmologist. However, we will follow up with suggested ways to find appropriate information related to your question.

Medical disclaimer. By submitting your question, you agree to be answered by email. Your email address will only be used to answer your question unless you are an Academy member or are subscribed to Academy newsletters. Certain medications or eye diseases can affect color vision.

Any child who is having difficulty in school should be checked for vision problems including color vision deficiency. People with a family history of color vision problems and those who are having problems seeing colors should be tested. Also, anyone who has a job that requires identifying colors correctly should be tested for color vision deficiency.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for hereditary color vision deficiency.