Color Blindness - Research Paper Example

Brain or retinal damage due to the shaken baby syndrome or trauma can cause the occipital lobe of the brain to swell. The retina can also be damaged by the ultraviolet rays of the sun causing the condition. Damage of the retina can be as a result of other ailments such as diabetes and deficiency of vitamin A. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis may suffer color blindness due to the drug Hydroxychloroquine used to treat the ailment (Starr, Evers & Starr, 2011).The most prevalent cause of color blindness is gene defects.

According to genetics, color blindness is inherited from mutation of the X chromosome. Research shows that there are at least 19 chromosomes and 56 gene mutations that are responsible for causing color blindness. Color blindness mostly affects men with one in every ten men suffering from the condition. The most common form of color blindness is the inability to depreciate between red and green. The gene for red and green color receptors is found on the X chromosome. Men have one X chromosome while the women have two x chromosomes.

The female will be color blind if all her 46 XX chromosomes are defective while it only takes a single chromosome defective in man (Tagarelli, 2004).A color-blind man transfers the gene to his daughters who become heterozygote carriers. The daughters then pass the defective chromosome to all their sons. An affected male cannot pass the defect to the male child as male children inherit the Y chromosome from their father. When an affected male has a child with a carrier female, the daughters have a high chance of being color blind because they have inherited defective X chromosomes from both parents (Formankiewicz, 2009).

The eye is smaller compared to other organs in the body but comprises one of the five body senses.