Which is the most common type of color blindness?

The most common type of color blindness is red-green color blindness. This condition primarily affects a person’s ability to distinguish between red and green hues, which is due to the absence or malfunction of specific cone cells in the retina responsible for detecting these colors.

Red-green color blindness can manifest in two forms: protanopia, which is the inability to perceive red light, and deuteranopia, which involves a reduced sensitivity to green light. This form of color vision deficiency is prevalent, particularly among males, as the genes responsible for the most common types of red-green color blindness are located on the X chromosome.

In contrast, blue-yellow color blindness, while also a recognized condition, is significantly less common. Complete color blindness, or achromatopsia, is a rare condition in which individuals cannot perceive any color at all, which further underscores why red-green color blindness is identified as the most prevalent form of color vision deficiency. General color vision deficiency encompasses an array of conditions affecting color perception but does not specify the most common type, which reinforces that red-green color blindness is often highlighted in clinical discussions.