Transcript Color Blindness PPT

By Maddy Jones, Coby Austin, Ellie Stiller, and Deon Robinson
Color Blindness: The history
 A reduced ability to distinguish between certain colors.
 Color blindness is also called color vision deficiency.
 We could not find any information on how color blindness got it’s name.
 John Dalton discovered color blindness in 1794 when he scandalized his
family by inadvertently buying his mother a set of racy underwear as a
birthday present.
Colorblindness: Type of genetic disorder/How
it is inherited
 Red-green color vision defects and blue cone monochromacy are inherited
in an X-linked recessive pattern.
 Monochromatic- containing or using only one color.
 The OPN1LW and OPN1MW genes are located on the X chromosome,
which is one of the two sex chromosomes. One genetic change in each cell
is sufficient to cause the condition.
Colorblindness pedigree
Colorblindness: Symptoms
 Trouble seeing colors and the brightness of colors in the usual way.
 Inability to tell the difference between shades of the same or similar
colors, particularly red and green, or blue and yellow.
Effects of colorblindness
 People with colorblindness see red and green as gray.
 Rapid eye-movement (in rare cases)
Colorblindness: Diagnosis
 If you have any eye test with an optometrist (a registered health
professional who examines eyes, tests sight and dispenses glasses and
contact lenses) they should test your color vision as a matter of routine,
but not all chains of opticians in the US do this test routinely and with
some of them you may have to request a color vision test specifically and
sometimes even pay for it as an extra.
 There are many tests available to measure color vision defects but the
most common is the Ishihara Plate test. This can test for red/green color
blindness but not blue color blindness. This is the test most likely to be
used for routine color vision screening in schools or medicals.
Colorblindness: Prognosis
 Color blindness does not directly lower life expectancy. However, it could
affect someone by, for example, making them not able to tell the
difference between the red and green on a stoplight and being killed in an
accident.
 The family of a person who has colorblindness has to help them out so
they can tell them the colors of something in important matters- refer to
the example above.
Colorblindness: Treatment
 There is currently no treatment for inherited colorblindness. Color filters
or contact lenses can be used in some situations to enhance the brightness
between some colors and these are occasionally used in the workplace, but
many color blind people find these actually confusing them further, rather
than helping them.
 They are working on a gene therapy for colorblindness.
Colorblindness: Current research
 A rainbow of hope for people who are color-blind: New research suggests
that gene therapy could one day give such patients the ability to see in full
color.
 The study authors say their findings demonstrate that the brain might be
able to reprogram itself when given new sensory information, such as
color-recognizing receptors, even when the key period for brain
development is over. Until now, it’s been assumed that treatment for
inherited vision disorders could only be done in very young patients.
Summary of a story
 My grandpa is colorblind. He learned his colors by working with his
mother. He saw stop signs and traffic lights in different colors. For
example, instead of seeing red, green, and yellow, he sees gray, blue, and
orange. He taught himself which color went with the actual color. So he
knew when he saw gray he knew that it was red, orange when it was
yellow, and when he saw blue he knew it was green. I sometimes forget
that he is colorblind, because he doesn’t show that it affects his life.
-Ellie Stiller
Bibliography
 http://www.aao.org/eye-health/diseases/color-blindness-symptoms
 http://www.bausch.com/your-eye-concerns/diseases-and-
disorders/color-blindness#.VwEzu_ldWSo
 http://www.colourblindawareness.org/colour-blindness/living-withcolour-vision-deficiency/
 http://www.news-medical.net/?tag=/Color-Blindness
 http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/news/20090916/gene-therapy-maycure-color-blindness