Health encyclopaedia - Alphabetical Topic List

| A | | B | | C | | D | | E | | F | | G | | H | | I | | J | | K | | L | | M |
| N | | O | | P | | Q | | R | | S | | T | | U | | V | | W | | X | | Y |

Diagnosis of Colour vision deficiency

A person is generally made aware of their condition through social situations; for example, a child may have difficulty identifying coloured materials or reading a map. However, colour perception deficiencies may go undetected in cases where people see an alternative colour; for example, they see leaves as a colour that unimpaired vision sees as yellow, but because they are told that leaves are green, they have called this colour green.

Colour vision deficiency is often assessed using a series of multi-coloured dot pattern tests. Those who do not have a problem will be able to pick out certain numbers or shapes from within the dot patterns. By noting the tests which prove difficult, an eye specialist (ophthalmologist) can diagnose the particular type of visual problem. These tests are sometimes known as the Ishihara test.

It is important to diagnose this condition early in life, since many learning materials are colour coded.