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ENVISION A MORE COLORFUL WORLD

ENVISION A MORE COLORFUL WORLD

People with color deficiency (or color blindness) perceive color differently than people with normal color vision. Rather than receiving distinct visual information from the cone cells in their eyes, they receive overlapping signals, which causes difficulty in seeing or distinguishing between certain colors. For instance, shades of red, brown, and green can look confusingly similar.

Color deficiency glasses are uniquely engineered to give those with color blindness the ability to see a broader spectrum of bright color. EnChroma lenses are patented light-filtration technology that makes certain colors along the visible spectrum more distinct. By refining the light before it reaches the eye, the eyes can receive the color information they need to communicate the correct signals to the brain. Although EnChroma glasses are not a cure, they are helpful for approximately 80% of people who suffer from color blindness.

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What is Normal Color Vision?

Normal color vision occurs when white light, which contains within it all the colors of the rainbow, enters the eye. This light activates three kinds of photopigments, one in each of the three photoreceptors sensitive to different parts of the visible spectrum: blue, green and red.

What is Color Deficiency or Color Blindness?

What is Color Deficiency or Color Blindness?

It is a reduced ability to distinguish between colors when compared to the standard for normal human color vision. When a person is color blind, also called color vision deficiency (CVD), they usually have difficulty distinguishing between certain colors such as yellow and orange, green and brown, pink and gray, or blue and purple. These confusions are typical of what is called “red-green color blindness,” which includes protan-type CVD (protanomaly and protanopia) and deutan-type CVD (deuteranomaly and deuteranopia). Red-green color blindness is usually inherited via X-linked recessive genes.

 

Other types of color blindness exist also, such as tritan-type CVD, also called blue-yellow color blindness, which is associated with the inability to see shades of blue, and confusions between blue and green colors. Blue-yellow color blindness is usually caused by age-related eye conditions such as glaucoma, or exposure to certain chemicals or medical treatments. In very rare cases, a person can be completely color blind, meaning they see only the intensity of light, but not its color. This is called monochromacy or achromatopsia. Achromatopsia can be inherited but can also result from progressive eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa. In summary, there are many types and degrees of what can be considered “color blindness,” ranging from partial to complete lack of color discrimination.

NEUROSCIENCE NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD

NEUROSCIENCE NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD

In creating a solution for color blindness, Enchroma discovered that building an advanced lens is only half the battle. Color vision has as much to do with how the eyes capture light as it does with how the human brain constructs our view of reality.

 

Our brains adapt over the course of our lives – a concert called neuroplasticity – whether it’s learning a new language or acquiring a new skill. From birth, context and language affect our understanding of color, along with the physical visual signals our eyes relay to our brains. What does this all mean for a person trying EnChroma glasses for the first time? Can a pair of glasses actually change the way our brain is wired?

EnChroma develops optical lens technology that selectively filters out wavelengths of light at the precise point where this confusion or excessive overlap of color sensitivity occurs. The M and L cones are altered in such a way that there is a greater amount of difference in color discrimination along the so-called “confusion line” for that individual.

 

Our lens technology increases contrast between the red and green color signals, alleviating symptoms of color blindness for a richer experience of the world. With the application of science, optics, mathematics and more than 10 years of clinical research, EnChroma continues to advance the field of color vision research and bring new products to market that solve unique color deficiency issues.

SEE FOR YOURSELF

We believe that through physical exposure to richer color information, it’s possible to develop and expand the visual processing centers in the brain. But, because everyone’s brain and eyes are different, it can take some people longer than others to experience these effects. That’s why we encourage each person to take the time to explore their individual experience with the glasses in our Optical Area with our trained professionals. With regular use across a variety of situations, EnChroma glasses can reveal more brilliant, vivid colors and also help our adaptable brains see and understand a more colorful world.

 

Enchroma uses a patent-pending technology that filters certain wavelengths of light so that previously confusing colors appear more separate and clear. These medical-grade lenses (effective for 4 out of 5 cases for color blindness) provide the maximum amount of color enhancement possible, without compromising color balance, color accuracy, or visual comfort.

 

“Color. It affects every part of our lives. Color is emotional, experiential, and tactical. It gives art life. It entices us to eat certain foods and buy certain jewelry, and sometimes it literally defines these things. We also use color to interpret information such as signs and lights. It is deeply ingrained in our basic perception of the world. When the ability to see color is deficient, as in the case of color blindness, there is a dulling of what is seen; or one might say there is a dulling effect in how we see.” 

– Enchroma Website

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  • To learn if you are color blind, you can take the EnChroma Color Blind Test. If you have color blindness, Brenart Eye Clinic can tell you what type of color deficiency you have, and if your color vision deficiency is mild, moderate, or strong.

  • Many assume because of its name that “color blind” means a person can only see in black and white. In actuality, the vast majority of people with color blindness do see color, but they see a much smaller range of shades of color compared to a person with normal color vision. In addition, a person with color blindness may miss out on details or not notice objects that would normally be plainly visible, because the color of the details or object is confusingly similar to the surrounding visual context. A classic example is not noticing a ripe red apple in a tree when it is surrounded by green leaves.

    Humans have three primary types of light receptor cells in the retina that respond broadly to red, green, and blue light. Signals from these receptor cells form the basis of color vision, by transmitting neural signals to the brain about the relative amount of each primary color to the visual cortex. It is estimated that the human visual cortex can perceive about 100 levels of sensitivity for each primary channel: 100 x 100 x 100 = 1 million, which is where we get to 1 million perceived shades of distinct color. However, if a person is color blind, for example having red-green color blindness, then the red and green primary channels have an overlap in their signals causing the channels to contain almost the same information. In the most extreme case, called dichromacy, the red and green channels are completely indistinguishable, such that the total number of colors that can be seen is just 100 x 100  = 10 thousand or just 1% of the normal range. Most people with color blindness have only a partial loss of sensitivity, meaning the information is there, but is harder to notice. Depending on the severity, the number of unique shades of color that can be seen is more often estimated to be around 10% of normal.

     

  • The primary symptom of color blindness is color confusion, which means that the person may mis-identify a color as being something other than what people with “normal color vision” see. Another symptom is that details or objects may be overlooked or not readily seen if they have a color that is confused with other colors in the surrounding visual scene.  Color blindness is not known to be correlated with other eye conditions such as myopia, nor with learning disabilities. If you can’t see any color at all and see only in shades of gray, you may have the rare condition called achromatopsia.

    As a person with color blindness, color confusion can show itself in many everyday tasks, resulting in frustrating outcomes such as a mismatched outfit, questionable paint choices, incorrect color naming and difficulty interpreting color coded information such as charts, graphs and maps, which may cause problems at school or work.

    Another task that can be frustrating is driving a car when color blind since for the color blind person, green light tends to look very pale green or nearly white, and red light may seem closer to orange. Color blind drivers often say they look more for the traffic light’s position or to what other cars are doing on the road, rather than at the colors of lights.

  • There are an estimated 350 million people in the world with red-green color blindness (deutan-type and protan-type vision deficiency), or 4% of the total population. Red-green color blindness is acquired genetically through your parents and is expressed by genes on the X-chromosome. Because of the X-linked recessive biology behind red-green color blindness, the condition affects mainly men: about one in 12 men (8%), but also includes about one in 200 women (.5%). Less precise statistics are known about blue-yellow color deficiency, which is most often caused by progressive or age-related eye conditions. Some estimates place the total number at least as high as those for red-green color blindness, and may be increasing due to the trend toward an aging population demographic worldwide. The more rare forms of color blindness include achromatopsia and progressive eye diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa. Estimates of these conditions are about 1 in 2000 people, or lower, but are known to be greater in certain subpopulations.

  • Color blindness is not a singular condition. It encompasses a range of conditions, from mild to severe, that can cause each person to see color differently. EnChroma glasses are designed to improve color vision of people with forms of anomalous trichromacy, which are estimated to comprise four out of five cases of color blindness. The most common types are Protanomaly and Deuteranomaly, which are forms of partial red-green color blindness. In the most extreme cases, the complete absence of one of the cone photopigments, called Protanopia or Deuteranopia, are considered dichromats who may see limited results due to the complete inability to see red and green color differences. Reduced color discrimination of shades of blue and yellow is called Tritanomaly, or Tritanopia which is not a type of what is commonly referred to as red-green color blindness, but is also a form of color vision deficiency. EnChroma glasses are designed to address forms of red-green color blindness and are not intended to assist the vision of people with Tritan-type deficiency. Fortunately, most cases of color blindness respond well to EnChroma spectral lens technology, enabling the perception of bright, vibrant color. 

TESTIMONIAL VIDEO

TOP 6 THINGS PEOPLE LOVE ABOUT ENCHROMA:

  • Greater Color Perception
  • Improved Clarity
  • Enhanced Detail & Depth Perception
  • Expanded Observable Shades
  • 100% UV Absorbing
  • Rx Compatible Lenses