Eye disease and color defects.

The groundwork for understanding color defects in eye disease was established by the end of the nineteenth century. Thereafter the field was neglected as scientists concentrated on studies of normal color vision and congenital color vision defects. Spurred by the development of the Farnsworth 100 hue-test, interest was renewed in the 1950s. The past 25 years have seen an explosion of interest in color defects in eye disease. The International Research Group on Color Vision Deficiencies has played an important role in this activity. The development of new clinical tests and instruments as well as refinement of laboratory techniques are among the important developments.