Get to know the different types of color blindness tests

He said, color blindness makes one see only black and white. True if what is meant is total color blindness. Even though not everyone is totally color blind. Most cases of color blindness are partial color blindness, which is difficult to distinguish between red, green, or blue colors. To determine which type you have, you need to do a color blind check. What is the color blindness test like?

Different types of color blindness tests

Color blindness occurs due to decreased function or loss of cone cells in the retina. Damage to the cone cells in the retina causes the eye to not detect colors properly.

This condition is generally caused by genetic or hereditary factors. Certain diseases that attack eye function and exposure to harmful chemicals can also cause this visual disturbance.

However, many do not realize that they are color blind because they are used to seeing certain colors as what their eyes see. In fact, some jobs or fields of study in lectures require a person to be able to fully see colors clearly.

Therefore, certain examinations need to be carried out to determine the condition of color blindness.

A test that is commonly done is for partial color blindness by recognizing patterns formed from colored dots, namely the Ishihara test. However, there are at least 4 types of tests that an ophthalmologist needs to do to diagnose color vision disorders.

1. Ishihara color blindness test

As the name implies, the inventor of the color blind test is Shinobu Ishihara, an ophthalmologist from Japan. This test is most often used to detect partial color blindness, especially in red-green color blindness.

The Ishihara test consists of 24 pages, containing images in the form of dots of color forming a number pattern. The purpose of this test is to read the numbers composed of colored dots. During the test, you will need to close one eye while reading the numbers and the doctor can also ask you to trace the colored dot patterns that make up the numbers.

In the pictures in Ishihara's test, there are numbers that can only be read by people with normal eyesight. However, there are also pictures whose numbers can be read by people with normal eyes, people with partial color blindness, and people with total color blindness.

If you have partial red-green color blindness, you will have a hard time reading some pages. You will have a different answer than people with normal vision. In fact, you may not even see a number at all.

However, some pages are devoted to read only by people with partial color blindness. In this section, people with normal vision usually do not find numbers, whereas people with partial color blindness see numbers.

2.Hardy-Rand-Rittler (HRR)

This color blindness test was first discovered in 1945 and can be used to detect all types of partial color blindness (red, green, and blue).

The HRR test consists of 4 major parts and the results of each test will be used to determine the type of color disorder you have. In this test you will be asked to see several forms of images, such as triangles or circles.

Apart from being used as a method of examining color blindness, this test can also be used to detect decreased color vision that accompanies several eye diseases, for example in people with optic neuropathy.

3.Farnsworth-Munsell 100-hue (Hue Test)

Unlike the other color blind tests, the Hue test consists of 85 color gradations arranged in 4 lines. The test is carried out by sorting the colors so that they form a gradient. The doctor will usually ask you to sort the gradations from the rainbow colors, namely red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and purple.

The results are added together to determine how severe or mild your color disturbance is. If you have difficulty arranging the gradations of the colors, you probably have a color vision disorder.

Reporting from the National Eye Institute, the Hue test is usually done to detect color vision disorders for professional qualifications of photographers and graphic designers.

4. Color blindness test with anomaloscopy

Unlike other color blindness tests, this examination is carried out using a special instrument that is shaped like a microscope, namely an anomaloscope. Checking for color blindness using an anomaloscope is the most accurate type of color vision disorder examination.

In this test, you will be asked to adjust the color to the color in the anomaloscope by turning a few knobs on the tool.

On the tool there is a circle that is divided into two colors, namely red-green and yellow. You need to show a color similar to the two halves of the circle.

In addition to a color blind check, your doctor may perform a complete eye exam or other tests to determine the exact cause of the color vision disorder.

If color blindness is caused by certain diseases or drug side effects, the results of the examination will be used as a guide for doctors to determine how to treat color blindness appropriately.