Do flowers seem less beautiful and rainbows less vibrant than they used to be? Do clothes you used to love seem a little more ho-hum? If your world seems drabber today, you may worry about your attitude—and hey, who knows, maybe you are turning into a curmudgeon!

But there’s probably something else going on. It’s not that you’re getting crabbier with age. Instead, it’s likely that your color vision is changing.

That’s right. According to a new study, a surprising proportion of seniors experience a marked decrease in the ability to perceive subtle differences in color. This doesn’t just affect people’s enjoyment of the visual world—it can affect their safety, too, especially since they often do not realize what’s happening. Here’s what you should know…

TWO TESTS FOR AGING EYES

Earlier research suggested that the ability to discriminate among colors decreases with age, but those studies excluded people over age 70 and people who had eye problems normally associated with aging, such as cataracts—meaning that they ignored a significant portion of the population. To address that oversight, the new study included 865 adults who ranged in age from 58 to 102 years old…and the only people excluded were those with a known congenital color-vision deficiency (the red-green color blindness that about 8% of males and 0.5% of females are born with).

The researchers used two proven tests to screen for color-vision changes. First, all the participants completed a test that can detect subtle errors in color discrimination. About one-third of the participants had perfect scores on that test. The remaining two-thirds went on to complete a second test, called the Farnsworth D-15, which was designed to detect color-vision defects severe enough to affect some activities of daily life. (It was assumed that participants with perfect scores on the tougher first test would also get perfect scores on the easier Farnsworth D-15 test.)

Both tests require participants to arrange colors of very slight variations in a particular order. The number and type of errors made is translated into a “color confusion score.” A perfect score is zero…a failing score is 30 or higher.

Here’s how the study participants did…

  • Overall, 36% of people failed the first test, 21% failed the second test and 18% failed both tests—much higher percentages than the “up to 8%” usually cited when talking about congenital red-green color blindness.
  • Across the board, failure rates increased markedly as the participants’ ages rose. For instance, on the Farnsworth D-15 test, less than 8% of people under age 65 failed…but more than one-quarter of those in their mid-to-late 70s failed…and nearly half of those age 90 and up failed.
  • The most common problem by far, accounting for nearly 80% of the abnormalities, was the blue-yellow defect, which makes it hard to distinguish between colors in the blue-yellow section of the spectrum. For instance, blues are easily confused with blue-greens, especially pale ones…and for people with more severe problems, yellows may be confused with violets. (If your color vision is normal, you can click here to get a sense of what someone with the blue-yellow defect sees. In the photo on the left, the paint cans depict normal vision…in the photo on the right, the colors are muted, simulating the blue-yellow defect.)

Explanation: This study was not designed to explain why people lose their ability to discern certain colors as they age. However, the researchers noted that most common age-related vision diseases, including macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic eye disease, all produce blue-yellow anomalies. Also, with age comes pupillary miosis (a decrease in the size of the pupil), which lets less light into the eye…and yellowing of the lens of the eye (associated with cataracts), which blocks the wavelengths that allow us to perceive blue correctly.

SEE FOR YOURSELF

Why is failing color vision a concern? People who have trouble distinguishing colors may have difficulty carrying out important everyday tasks—such as distinguishing between different-colored medications! And often people are unaware that their color vision has diminished, so they don’t know that they need to be on guard against such hazards.

Online test: At your next eye checkup, ask your eye doctor to test you for color-discrimination problems. In the meantime, you can try this online test. The goal is to arrange the colored squares in order by dragging each square into a line, placing each one next to the color it’s most similar to. If your score indicates diminished color vision, talk to your doctor about ways to compensate for problems this might cause—for instance, by carefully noting the size and shape (and not just the color) of your various medications, so you don’t mix them up.