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Color vision deficiency – commonly referred to as color blindness – affects a shocking number of our world population: one in twelve men and one in 200 women.
Color blindness may cause unexpected difficulties for those it afflicts. When visual content relies on color to share information, it often fails to convey its message to those with color blindness. Similarly, color blind users can have trouble distinguishing between low-contrasting text and background.
Common tasks like cooking and driving may be affected by a lack of color vision. Moreover, certain professional fields such as pharmaceutical science and military services restrict employment for those who are color blind as color vision is crucial to carrying out the tasks of the job safe and effectively.
Those afflicted by the condition are in luck as developments in the past 15 years have provided new aids to open new doors for those with color blindness.
Glasses and contacts
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EnChroma patented color blind glasses in 2010 and first released them in 2012. These glasses enhance the contrast between the color signals processed by the brain so that it differentiates between colors. EnChroma glasses address most types of red-green color blindness.
Another color blind glasses company, Pilestone, develops glasses for both red-green and blue-yellow color blindness.
Companies like X-Chrom and ChromaGen offer color blind contact lenses that differentiate colors similarly to how color blind glasses do. These contacts use dyes to tint lenses and enhance color vision.
Some glasses and contact lenses only address color blindness, while others concomitantly target nearsightedness or farsightedness. But, before purchasing any glasses or contact lenses, talk to a medical professional.
In 2022, Jeff Rabin, Ph.D., and his team report on their research on EnChroma Glasses in visual science journal, Eye, sharing that their findings suggest certain EnChroma glasses enhance color vision even after a person takes the glasses off. After wearing the glasses daily for 12 days, study participants demonstrated heightened color vision.
However, Shiva Ram Male, Ph.D. – another ophthalmology researcher – and his team, remain skeptical. In a review published by the NIH months after Rabin’s claim, Male’s team argues the evidence of improved color vision from color blind glasses is insufficient.
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Today, researchers work to improve existing color blind technologies while exploring other paths for advancement. At Iran’s Shahid Beheshti University in 2022, researchers designed plasmonic glasses that demonstrated a wavelength transmission differential stronger than many other color blind glasses on the market.
Looking to the future, researchers are manufacturing prototypes for optoelectronic glasses such as Google Glass, a wearable device that alters images so color blind users can fully process it visually.
Gene therapy
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Along with wearable technology, scientists explore gene therapy as a long-term fix for color blindness. In recent decades, many research teams have studied the visual effects of gene therapy in animals.
In 2010, Katherine Mancuso, Ph.D., and a team of researchers at Cambridge University in England, experimented on adult squirrel monkeys that were born color blind, conducting gene therapy to improve the function of their eye’s red cones. Using the Cambridge Colour Test before and after the treatment, the team confirmed the monkeys’ vision improved. Although most formerly believed that gene therapy for color blindness would only benefit children, the results suggest gene therapy may improve color blindness in adults as well.
However, in 2015, Frans W. Cornelissen and Eli Brenner called into question whether these experiments actually restore color vision. Mancuso’s study objectively demonstrated improved vision with the Cambridge Colour Test, but Cornelissen and Brenner designed a simulation that argued animals’ heightened color differentiation may not result from new color perceptions but rather general improvements to their vision.
Mark M Hassall, MBBS, and his team tackled a form of color blindness known as achromatopsia in 2017. Unlike most forms of color blindness, achromatopsia affects all cones, sometimes leading to a lack of color vision entirely. The team’s gene therapy trials on mice and other animals found recovered cone function.
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After many animal trials, a successful – though nonrandomized and small – human trial generates hope. In a 2020 trial, M. Dominik Fischer, MD, Ph.D., and his team administered gene therapy injections into the retinas of nine human achromatopsia patients which showed cone activation as a result.
Gene therapy for color blindness remains experimental, but researchers make strides every year towards offering treatments to the public.
Accessibility
As color blind technologies grow in popularity, they become more accessible. The app Color Blind Pal identifies colors when users open their device’s camera. Other apps offer free color blind testing and simulations for non-color blind people to experience weak color vision.
Companies like Microsoft now offer accessibility tools for users with weak color vision. By navigating to the settings, color blind users can turn on color filters designed for various forms of color blindness.
Companies like EnChroma are making color blind glasses more accessible, as well. Partnering with EnChroma, certain sports teams, museums and state parks now offer these specialized glasses for visitors to borrow.
Grace Heberling is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
