Colorblindness occurs when one or more types of cone cells in the retina are either missing or don’t function properly. The most common forms include:
- Red-green colorblindness (deuteranomaly or protanomaly) – difficulty distinguishing between red and green
- Blue-yellow colorblindness (tritanomaly) – rare condition affecting blue and yellow perception
- Complete colorblindness (achromatopsia) – extremely rare, seeing only in grayscale
Colorblindness is typically inherited genetically and affects approximately 8% of males and 0.5% of females. The condition is more common in males because the genes responsible for the most common forms are carried on the X chromosome.