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Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffIf you have trouble seeing certain colors, your eye doctor can quickly and easily test to see if you have a color deficiency. Many specialists trained in eye diseases and disorders use a book containing several multicolored dot-pattern tests to provide a simple and accurate assessment of color vision deficiencies. If you don't have a color vision deficiency, you'll be able to pick out numbers and shapes from within the dot patterns. However, if you do have a color vision deficiency, either you'll find it difficult to see some patterns within the dots, or you won't see anything at all.
References
- Barrett KE, et al. Vision. In: Barrett KE, et al. Ganong's Review of Medical Physiology. 23rd ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2010. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=5240281. Accessed Dec. 15, 2010.
- Color vision deficiency. Genetics Home Reference. http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/color-vision-deficiency. Accessed Dec. 15, 2010.
- Color vision deficiency. American Optometric Association. http://www.aoa.org/x4702.xml?prt. Accessed Dec. 15, 2010.
- Gobba F. Color vision impairment in workers exposed to neurotoxic chemicals. NeuroToxicology. 2003;24:693.
- Robertson DM (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Dec. 22, 2010.
- Komaromy AM, et al. Gene therapy rescues cone function in congenital achromaptopsia. Human Molecular Genetics. 2010;19:2581.
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