Problems with colours

I am definitely not colour-blind but am having probems distinguishing betwen black and dark navy blue. This morning I put on a knee-length patterned tunic, the base and main colour being navy blue, and I wanted to wear lightweight cropped leggings with it. so got out a pair of dark navy blue leggings.

To my embarrassment I later discovered that I was not wearing dark navy blue leggings, nor was I wearing black ones. Instead I was wearing dark purple ones.

As I say, I am definitely not colour-blind but am having problems in distinguishing between colours like black, dark navy, and dark purple.

Does anyone have a similar problem with such colours?

Me too Malka tights and jumpers are a nightmare and I have two identical pairs of shoes one blue one black and I have such a problem telling them apart.

Could it be related to our age I wonder?
I know as we get older our pupils react differently to light.
I am scared to drive far at night now because the oncoming lights temporarily blind me .

When I was in the UK and used to take both my offspring and a friend's two camping, we would set off at about 3am. As I have perfect distance in my left eye I never wore my spectacles when driving at night. And never had any problems.

When I came here and had to apply for an Israeli driving licence I had to have another sight test [I have been wearing spectacles since I was ~ 6 years old] and it was marked on my driving licence that I was only permitted to drive wearing spectacles.

I never had a car after I moved here but did hire one when necessary, but that meant I could only drive during daytime. So I never bothered to renew my Israeli driving licence when it expired, and being over 70 now my British driving licence is also expired.

But the problems I had when driving at night are not the same as not being able to distinguish between black, dark navy blue and dark purple except in bright daylight.

That really confused me this morning as I was convinced I was wearing dark navy blue [I had already realised that the leggings were not black], but it turned out that the leggings were dark purple and not dark navy - and I did not think that my sight has deteriorated to the extent that I cannot distinguish between similar-ish dark colours.

I notice my mum finds it hard to distinguish between dark colours lately too MALKA.Often asks if something is navy or black Without her glasses,her eyesight is extremely poor,but this colour thing started about 6 months ago.She's 71 btw

Isn't night blindness, and other things, symptoms of macular degeneration? My friend's mum has been diagnosed with it and my friend has been told she has the beginnings of it.

I do not know Catrin, as I was diagnosed with night blindness many years ago and yet my sight was perfect [in my left eye] at night as long as I was not wearing my specs. My specs, incidentally, were to boost the sight in my right eye and dampen the sight in my left eye so that they balanced. But with my specs I could not see to drive at night whereas without them my right [bad] eye just switched off so my left [good] eye could work perfectly.

My last sight tests did not show any signs of macular degeneration, but for years now I have worn half and half bifocals for when I am out, with separate reading specs for - well - reading. I also now have mid-distance specs for the computer and also for food preparation [a separate pair but same prescription] as I cannot wear varifocal/multifocal.

I was just a bit surprised when, after having made sure that the leggings were dark navy and not black [my usual mix-up] to find that they were, in fact, dark purple and not dark navy.

Eileen - I am also 71 but do not know if this is an age thing as I actually can see quite well without my specs. It is just focus that is difficult.

And now having problems in distinguishing very similar dark colours.

I'd say this is very common. I often have to ASK in shops if it is Black or Navy. Or take it outside to see it in bright sunlight or hold it against something I KNOW is black to tell the difference. I think it's an 'old age' thing with how quickly eyes 'adjust' to differences in light. Sorry about that! Getting old's a bummer ain't it!

Think you may have hit on something there with having to take things out into the sunlight I know its all environmentally friendly having low voltage lighting but I find a difference in my own eyesight,trying to read for instance in such low lighting.

I can understand this about sunlight and low voltage lighting which is why I always take dark things into my ensuite to check as it is extremely bright in there, especially in bright sunlight, and was convinced that the leggings were dark navy. The colour looked identical to the navy background of the top.

I guess it must be old age, and I definitely am very ancient!