EYES on Colour Blindness

How can you correct colour blindness?

Special colour blind glasses can correct colour blindness but it depends on which type affects you

Were you scolded as a child for colouring the sky purple? Does peanut butter look murky green? Do traffic lights turn brown for stop and blue for go? If the answer is yes, you are most likely colour blind. Colour blindness can vary in severity depending on the type you have, and in some cases it can restrict you in everyday situations and hinder your general development and wellbeing. If you have this vision problem, it is worth finding out more about it so you can find a suitable solution.

How can colour blindness affect people’s lives?

Colour blindness can cause significant problems in everyday life by hindering learning, understanding and overall happiness. As well as traffic lights, red and green are used to show when a toilet is occupied or whether an electronic device is on or off. Online, links turn purple if you have previously clicked on them. If you can’t see these colours, as is the case for many people with colour blindness, you miss out on many important cues.

People are generally happier and more contented when they can see the world in more vivid colours. It is often crucial for certain professions; cinematographers and photographers benefit hugely from seeing a greater array of colours, shades and skin tones.

How is colour blindness checked?

The most reliable way to check if you are colour blind is to visit a specialist and do a colour blindness test. EYES on St Albans offers The EnChroma vision test, which can be done either online or using the EYES on St Albans App. It takes up to five minutes to complete. The test on the App involves various screens of coloured, dotted numbers against different coloured, dotted backgrounds. If you see the number, you click the button for it. If you are unsure, or you can’t see a number, you simply hit the ‘Pass’ button. The results tell you whether you have colour blindness or not and, if so, what type you have.

What is colour blindness and how can it be cured?

Caused by a genetic mutation passed on from the mother, colour blindness is a kind of impairment. Usually it makes the world appear duller than in reality.

Most of us who are not colour blind see approximately one million colours and shades of colour, whereas someone with colour blindness sees between ten and 20 per cent of these colours. The most common type involves seeing reduced red or green. This is known as red and green colour deficiency, or protan and deutan colour blindness (protanomaly and deuteranomaly). It causes yellows, oranges and browns to all appear similar. If you have this type, you are likely to stop at the traffic lights when they turn brown and to see peanut butter as green. You were probably that child colouring the sky in purple, because you can’t distinguish purple from blue.

A rarer type, blue green colour blindness (tritanomaly), prevents you from seeing as much blue, and sometimes also yellow. In the rarest of cases, colour blindness causes you to see the entire world is viewed in greyscale, without any colours at all. This type is known as monochromacy.

The bad news is that there is not yet a cure for colour blindness per se. However, those who have the impairment can purchase special colour correction glasses that help them see more of the colours visible to people with full colour vision.

How do colour blind glasses work?

The test offered at EYES on St Albans also shows whether EnChroma colour correction glasses could be beneficial. Using technology recently discovered in America, these colour blind corrective glasses are not a cure and don’t work for all, but they do act as a treatment, reducing problems for many with the impairment.

The science behind the EnChroma lenses is quite revolutionary. By blocking out light between the medium and long wavelengths of visible light, colours are enhanced and separated. In most cases, when you put on the glasses, the world appears more vibrant and varied. It is like someone has shifted the saturation up a notch. The grass is greener, tomatoes are redder, and finally you can tell the difference between purple and blue crayons.

EnChroma glasses come with six different lenses for the various forms of colour blindness and require that you take a test to know exactly which lenses will be most effective for you. For those who are long or short-sighted, they are available in single vision and varifocal prescriptions as well as non-prescription versions.

EYES on St Albans encourage individuals to try on and compare the other densities of lenses. They also discuss how and when the individual will use these, which helps to determine which lens design is most suited for the needs of the individual. Every pair of glasses is bespoke because everybody’s taste in glasses is different, so it is equally as important to get the frame design right for each and every person.

Where to get colour blind glasses?

EYES on St Albans is the only UK-based retailer of EnChroma colour correction glasses. The only other option for British residents wishing to purchase this brand of colour blind glasses, is to import them from the U.S.

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To take the test you can download the EYES on St Albans App from the Google or Apple Stores, or take it on our Enchroma page. To find out more, please contact us or pop in to the shop.