It is estimated that approximately 13 million people in the United States suffer from color blindness or color vision deficit. It's easy for those of us who aren't colorblind to take the little things for granted, like being able to pick out an outfit or appreciate a sunset.
So, let's get down to the basics: what is color blindness?
Color blindness, in a nutshell, is an inability to see specific hues of light via the cones in your eyes. Color vision in humans depends on three different kinds of cones. Color blindness occurs when even one of these cone types has a slightly distorted perception of light.
8 percent of males and 0.5 percent of women are colorblind. The inability to distinguish between red and green is the most prevalent kind of color blindness. The vast majority of colorblind persons are affected by red-green deficiency. Only around one to two percent of the population is completely unable to distinguish between blue and yellow. Monochromatic vision, the most extreme type of color blindness, causes sufferers to be unable to see any colors at all.
An Upbeat Update
Eyeglasses have a remarkable impact on the color blind, which was accidentally found by a firm named EnChroma. Don McPherson, Ph.D., co-founder, had no idea that a frisbee game would inspire the development of color-correcting glasses. McPherson donned the goggles he designed to keep surgeons' eyes safe while playing frisbee with a buddy. He suddenly realized how much the glasses had improved his ability to see color. His frisbee buddy, who was also colorblind, wanted to test them out. What followed was just unbelievable. The rest is history, as his companion was suddenly able to see vivid hues that he had previously been blind to. EnChroma glasses were developed seven years later with funding from the National Institutes of Health.
Magic, is how people all around the world describe these EnChroma glasses. The outcomes of its use by the color-blind population are impressive.
In that case, what is it about these spectacles that makes them so unique? Color vision is restored and eyesight is essentially changed by wearing these lenses, despite their rather unremarkable appearance. Whether it's a sunset, a piece of fruit, or a bouquet of flowers, the colors look more vibrant and powerful without compromising the authenticity or quality of the image or the color balance.
Witnessing the hundreds of red-green color-blind persons who have been helped by EnChroma glasses achieve color perception closer to that of the rest of us is very fulfilling. It's incredible to be a part of a color-blind person's epiphany, whether it's seeing more of the colors in a sunset or the color of a loved one's eyes, or even something as seemingly inconsequential as being able to tell the difference between the various shades of green in grass or recognizing a plane flying overhead in cloudy conditions. Director of External Communications at EnChroma, Kent Streeb, says the company makes outdoor-only and indoor/outdoor hybrid glasses for people of all ages. Four out of five persons who are red-green color blind can see well with their glasses.
Our team at Seek Optics is overjoyed by this development. We believe in EnChroma's effort to provide color vision correction glasses to those who cannot otherwise see it.
