How To Tell If Your Kid’s Color Blind?

Did you know that it is estimated that there are 300 color blind people globally? 95% of color blind people are men; 1 in 12 men is color blind. Babies are born color blind; their color vision improves as they grow and is fully developed by 6 months.

Although the chances are slim, women can be color blind; this has to do with chromosomal differences between the genders. Men in the UAE and worldwide are more likely to be color blind because the X chromosomes bears the genes responsible for the most commonly inherited types of color blindness.

What Causes Color Blindness?

Red-green color blindness is a sex-linked gene mutation present on the X chromosome. Women have 2 X chromosomes; if she inherits 1 chromosome with the mutation and a normal one, it becomes a recessive gene, and she does not display the mutation. Men are more likely to be color blind because they lack a second X chromosome to overshadow the mutated chromosomes.

Do you inherit color blindness from your father or mother? Women can be carriers of the gene and pass it. The daughters will carry the gene if only the father is completely color blind, but they will not be color blind. The sons will not be color blind nor be carriers.

The color blind gene is recessive; if a woman has 1 mutated X chromosome with the color blindness gene, she is a carrier but not color blind. There is a 50% chance that her daughters will be carriers and 50% that her sons will be color blind.

How To Know If Your Kid Is Color Blind

Color blindness symptoms are first noticed when kids start to learn the names of different colors. You can tell if your child is color blind through the following ways.

Early Symptoms

Color blindness in children is the inability to differentiate differences between particular colors. This condition is present from birth; 1 in 20 girls and 1 in 12 boys are color blind. If you are concerned that your kid might be color blind, you can consult your ophthalmologist Dubai clinic for advice. Color blindness in children exhibits itself in the following ways;

• Mismatching colors and objects, especially dark ones
• Denial of color issues
• Short attention span when coloring
• Excellent night vision
• Trouble identifying red or green objects
• Excellent sense of smell
• Sensitivity to bright lights
• Color identification problems, especially when there are low lights, colors of the same hue, and small areas of color
• Problem reading worksheets produced with color on color or colored books
• Smelling food before consuming
• Complaining about a headache or aching eyes when looking at red objects on green backgrounds and vice versa.

Testing For Color Blindness

You can test your child for color blindness before going to an ophthalmologist in Dubai for an official diagnosis.

This is not a definitive diagnosis, but it helps to gauge whether your kid can identify colors. Get a white sheet of paper and a dozen colored pencils. Ensure that you have red, green, orange, brown, blue, grey, and purple. Avoid too dark or pale shades.

Use each color to shade 2cm by 2cm on the sheet; do this randomly and avoid using the greens and reds together all the time. Place green, red, and brown adjacent to each other and then take the sheet to an area with good natural lighting.

Have your kid identify all the colors. If the child is not certain if the color is green, red, purple, brown, grey, or blue, there is a chance that he is color blind. A green or red color blind child can identify bright orange, pink, and yellow because of shade and brightness.

Diagnosis

The only way to know if your child is color blind is to consult an ophthalmology Dubai specialist for a formal diagnosis. Some schools conduct regular eye check-ups, but they might not test for color blindness.

It is important to test for color blindness in children; for instance, some science experiments require kids to identify substances by color. It is necessary to inform the school if your child has vision deficiency. Schools can also provide more support for color blind kids.

The Ishihara color test can diagnose color blindness. You need to book an appointment with your ophthalmology clinic Dubai for the test. This test detects deuteranopia and protanopia color deficiencies.

A figure or number is embedded on a background made of different colors; it is challenging for people with color deficiency to see the figure/number if they cannot identify the color.

Treatment

There is currently no cure for color blindness, but most people live normal lives. Children with this condition might need help with some classroom activities; color blindness is not a serious condition.

Other health problems can cause color blindness; in this case, the doctor prescribes medication to tackle this issue. If a particular medication is causing color blindness, the doctor might change it or adjust how much you take.

Certain devices and technology can help kids with this condition, for instance, glasses and contacts. Special glasses and contact lenses can help individuals with this condition to differentiate colors.

You can also use apps, visual aids, and other technologies to help your kid adjust to living with the condition. Your ophthalmologist can help you identify useful technology and visual aids. It is also important to encourage family members to get checked for color blindness because it is genetic.

Potential Future Treatments

It is possible for some rare retinal disorders linked to color deficiency could be modified with gene replacement therapy. This technique recognizes a mutated gene and tries to override it with the correct copy. These treatments are under study and might be available in the future.

Color blindness/deficiency is the inability to identify certain colors; it is a genetic disorder usually prevalent in men than women. The lack of red-green color vision is the most common type. You can tell if your kid is color blind by doing various tests or through a formal diagnosis. Color deficiency is not a serious condition.