Tritan Colour Blindness / Tritanomaly

Tritan Colour Blindness (“try-tan”) includes tritanomaly and tritanopia. It is also sometimes called blue-yellow colour blindness. Tritan colour blindness most commonly acquired later in life due to aging of the eye or a medical condition such as glaucoma and is only very rarely inherited from birth. Tritan colour vision is generally characterised by a reduced sensitivity in the blue-sensitive “S” cone cells. “S” stands for Short Wavelength Light. The retinal S-cone cells make up only about 1% of the approximately 6 million retinal cone cells, so when they are damaged or not functioning properly, it can easily cause a degradation to colour vision. Typically a person with a tritan-type colour vision deficiency does not see blue colours well, and may have difficulty seeing the difference between blue and green. Cataracts, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration can cause symptoms of tritan colour blindness. Another factor that causes reduced sensitivity to blue is the yellowing of the crystalline lens within the eye: these cells do not regenerate and over a lifetime of exposure to light, especially UV light, the lens tends to become yellow in appearance and block the transmission of blue light, interfering with colour vision. Eventually this yellowing also leads to cataracts that must be treated surgically.

EnChroma Glasses and Blue-Yellow Colour Blindness

EnChroma glasses are unlikely to help for tritanomaly or tritanopia (blue-yellow colour blindness) as the glasses are mainly effective for red-green colour blindness. If you believe you have tritanomaly, we recommend you consult with an eye care professional for a complete vision assessment.