Can You Improve Your COLOR Vision If Color Blind?
Color vision and color blindness isn’t something eye doctors or even natural vision teachers talk about much. Honestly, color blindness also hasn’t come up often in my practice, as most of my clients are women who have a much lower risk for any type of color blindness. show up much more in men.
To explore this topic, I invited Hana Maslowska, a vision teacher from the Czech Republic who has worked with many color blind or deficient students. What really stood out to me in our conversation was how she connects color perception with visual acuity and mindfulness practices from natural vision improvement—and how even color vision, which many people assume is fixed, can actually change.
How We See in Color, or Not
Most of us don’t think about what has to happen for us to see colors. Hana explained it simply: we have two types of light-sensitive cells in the retina—rods and cones. Rods help us see in dim light but don’t register it. Cones are what allow us to see in detail and in color.
There are three types of cone cells—each one responds to a different range of light: red, green, or blue. With those three, the brain creates the full range of all the colors we can perceive—up to around 1 million when all three types of cone cells are are working well.
If one of those types of cones is missing or not working properly, color perception changes and we experience some form of color blindness. This is what people usually refer to as “color blindness,” but it’s rarely black-and-white vision. Most people still see colors—just fewer shades. For example, someone might not be able to tell red from green very well. That’s the most common type, especially in men. In that case, all colors look desaturated with less vibrancy in the colors.
What Does Being Color Blind Mean?
A lot of people think that being color blind means you can’t see any at all. Hana explained that most people with this condition can still see thousands of shades, even if they don’t match how someone else sees them. The rarest type is when the blue cone is missing. That changes things in a different way.
She also pointed out that color blindness is much more common in some parts of the world, like Central and Northern Europe. In places like Eastern Asia or among some Indigenous groups, it’s far less common.
Color Perception Can Be Improved
One of the most eye-opening parts of our conversation was realizing that you can improve color perception—just like you can improve sharpness and clarity.
Hana shared activities she uses with her clients, like using paint swatches to improve their color contrast sensitivity, or exploring colorful flowers in nature with a magnifying glass to notice the tiny details and hundreds of shades of even one color in a flower petal. These aren’t just cute ideas—they wake up the visual system, especially the cone cells that help us see it and detail.
Even more than that, it’s about paying attention. Just noticing it, being curious, and enjoying them makes a real difference. It’s not about trying hard—it’s about being interested.
Why We Stop Seeing Color
Hana said something that really stuck with me: as people get older, they often stop caring about it. Not because they can’t see it—but because they stop looking for it. They lose the joy and curiosity. And that makes the world feel duller. No wonder that that is also the time cataracts often develop which will also dull the colors, just like macular degeneration.
When Hana works with people on vision improvement, she sees them light up—sometimes literally. Their ability to notice colors comes back as they reconnect with what they’re seeing. Some even see big changes in just a few days, simply by paying more attention and getting interested again.
I’ve seen the same thing. I used to work in design, where wearing black was the norm. Now, I notice how few people use it in their homes and wardrobes. Then I went to Mexico, and everything is bursting with color. It’s like eye candy for the cone cells!
How To Start Improving Your Color Vision
One great way to reconnect is to pick one each day and actively look for it. Notice how many different shades of that one color you can find—in nature, in your home, even in your clothes. If you want to take it further, get a magnifying glass and look closely at a flower. You’ll see details and variations you never noticed before.
Get two sets of paint swatches in different colors and play a “memory” type matching game to improve your color contrast sensitivity and perception skills.
The more you do this, the more your brain and eyes work together to improve how you see.
It is part of how we connect with the world. Whether you see a million shades or just a few thousand, there’s always more to notice—and enjoy.
If you’re feeling like things have gone a little gray in your life (literally or emotionally), try adding in more color. Curiosity, not effort, is what brings your vision alive.
Want more color vision ideas? Check out this blog post.
Watch the full episode on YouTube:
Improve Your COLOR Vision Even If Color Blind
Explore more about vision improvement:
Visit Naturally Clear Vision
How color blindness looks like
