Impact of congenital colour vision deficiency
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《英国医生杂志》
EDITOR—Cumberland et al studied the impact of colour vision deficiency on education and unintentional injuries.1 I have this condition (albeit the less impairing red-green variant) and offer my experience of studying medicine.
I had great difficulty in discerning where, during surgical procedures, muscle fibres ended and tendon fibres started—I could not see the difference in colour. The same thing applied to other structures, which, as you can imagine, made me less than suited for a career in surgery.
Later, during my internship in paediatrics, I noticed that I could never see what others would call "masking" (the slight bluish tinge around the mouth of a very ill infant) or the yellowish colour of impending bilirubinaemia. All in all, I lacked the "clinical eye" that is crucial in paediatrics.
Therefore I strongly recommend introducing a test for colour vision deficiency at the start of medical education to preclude unnecessary disappointment and help choose a medical career.
Pieter A Wiegersma, lecturer
University of Groningen, A Deusinglaan 1, 9713 AV Groningen, Netherlands p.a.wiegersma@med.rug.nl
Competing interests: None declared.
References
Cumberland P, Rahi JS, Peckham CS. Impact of congenital colour vision deficiency on education and unintentional injuries: findings from the 1958 British birth cohort. BMJ 2004;329: 1074-5. (6 November.)
I had great difficulty in discerning where, during surgical procedures, muscle fibres ended and tendon fibres started—I could not see the difference in colour. The same thing applied to other structures, which, as you can imagine, made me less than suited for a career in surgery.
Later, during my internship in paediatrics, I noticed that I could never see what others would call "masking" (the slight bluish tinge around the mouth of a very ill infant) or the yellowish colour of impending bilirubinaemia. All in all, I lacked the "clinical eye" that is crucial in paediatrics.
Therefore I strongly recommend introducing a test for colour vision deficiency at the start of medical education to preclude unnecessary disappointment and help choose a medical career.
Pieter A Wiegersma, lecturer
University of Groningen, A Deusinglaan 1, 9713 AV Groningen, Netherlands p.a.wiegersma@med.rug.nl
Competing interests: None declared.
References
Cumberland P, Rahi JS, Peckham CS. Impact of congenital colour vision deficiency on education and unintentional injuries: findings from the 1958 British birth cohort. BMJ 2004;329: 1074-5. (6 November.)