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VISANTE OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY

Dr. Edward Boshnick
8479 Coral Way
Miami, FL 33155
(305) 264-4400
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Color Blindness and Chromagen Lenses

Color blindness, or color deficiency affects millions of Americans. Approximtely 11% of males and .8% of females are color deficient. Defective color vision can range from near normal ability to recognize colors where typically the retinal pigments for seeing red or green are slightly altered to a high degree of confusion where the chemical balance is considerably altered. In the most severe cases, the deeper colors as well as pale colors will be confused, especially if the lighting is poor.

Chromagen is a unique system of colored lenses of a specific density and hue that are worn as either contact lenses or spectacles. For people suffering from color deficiency or "color blindness" Chromagen filters work by changing the wavelength of each color going into one or both eyes, which enhances color perception and color discrimination. For many people suffering color deficiencies, this improvement can be dramatic and life changing. Even colors that are normally identified correctly, often seem brighter, richer and more vivid while other shades and colors may be perceived for the first time.

Everybody had three color pigments in their retinas in an equal ratio of red, green and blue. Color defective people have a deficiency of red or green or perhaps both. Chromagen works by changing the level of each color going to the non-dominant eye. For example, there might be 20% red, 30% green and 50% blue in the dominant eye, but 50% red, 40% green and only 10% blue in the non-dominant eye with the Chromagen filter over it. The brain is being sent two completely different sets of signals and the resultant confusion allows the brain to differentiate between colors which had previously looked the same. The result is that the color range perceived by the color deficient person is increased two or three fold.

Chromagen therapy does not give the color deficient perfect color perception, but it does give them the ability to identify more colors, shades and hues and to differentiate between them.

The image above was produced by a color deficient as a demonstration of how they would normally see a rose (right) and how they see it with the Chromagen™ lens (left).