Eyes & Color Vision for Connecticut Patients



In Connecticut we have beautiful scenery and colors around us, many patients ask us about their eyes and color vision and how it works that we can see. We are able to see in color because there are three different kinds of cones (which are photoreceptors responsive to light of different colors), each of which is sensitive to light of different wavelengths (colors). The three cone types each contain a different photopigment; a photopigment is a molecule which is responsive to light of specific wavelengths and which can change the electrical excitability of the photoreceptor cell. The three cones are called blue, green and red codes. It should be pointed out that these names do not necessarily correspond to the color of light that activates them best.

For example, green cones are the best of the three groups of cells at responding to green light, though they are activated the most by yellow light.

We are able to distinguish between different colors because light of specific wavelengths will activate blue, green and red cones to different degrees. The cones send impulses to the brain at a rate proportional to the degree they are activated-the brain interprets the ratio of the nerve impulses arising from the three types of cone as representing a specific color.

If you have any questions about the color vision or need your color vision to be tested please call Doctor & Associates at 203-227-4113.Red-green color blindness is a relatively common inherited condition that affects one in 12 men and one in 100 women. Affected individuals have a deficiency in either red or green cones, which makes it impossible for them to differentiate between red and green and between orange and yellow.