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Glasses "solve" color blindness.

aramis

aramis

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http://news.discovery.com/tech/gear-and-gadgets/glasses-solve-color-blindness-problem-130207.htm

The resulting glasses are called Oxy-Iso lenses, and are made by O2Amp. The way they function is simple: filter out certain wavelengths of light and enhance others, primarily in the red part of the spectrum.

Originally the glasses were aimed at medical personnel, who could better see the effects of blood vessels dilating beneath the skin. The glasses made the contrast between the skin and the red vessels greater.
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So... Colorblindness and frequency shifting lenses... nifty ideas for dealing with Alien signage...

http://www.scientificamerican.com/a...ld-help-people-with-red-green-color-blindness
 
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And if they can do it in glasses, it will eventually be available in contact lenses. After that, the contact lenses will be come cheap.
 
RandyB said:
And if they can do it in glasses, it will eventually be available in contact lenses. After that, the contact lenses will be come cheap.
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You would never want as a contact lens as it washes out other colors you need to see. It doesn't actually make you see colors you can't already see.
 
I have talked with my optometrist about them, as a potential son in law is red-green color blind. The glasses only work with red-green color blindness and do nothing for those who are completely color blind or those with blue-yellow color blindness. They also distort the rest of the spectrum to a degree.
 
Originally the glasses were aimed at medical personnel, who could better see the effects of blood vessels dilating beneath the skin. The glasses made the contrast between the skin and the red vessels greater.
Click to expand...

Just this initial aim was worth it. I've never before heard about those glasses, but I can assure you sometimes it's not easy to see the veins when you intend to put a needle or catheter on them...

I'll have to show this article to my bosses :devil:...
 
timerover51 said:
Hmmm, my optometrist was quoting me a price of more like $75 retail from him.
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Was that what they would charge the insurer, timerover? Or, your co-pay? Or, not covered at all?

*Not to be political, but in America currently there are so many fingers in the pie in medicine, that it's hard to know what the real cost is for something. The real cost could be hidden inside other costs.
 
Fritz_Brown said:
Was that what they would charge the insurer, timerover? Or, your co-pay? Or, not covered at all?

*Not to be political, but in America currently there are so many fingers in the pie in medicine, that it's hard to know what the real cost is for something. The real cost could be hidden inside other costs.
Click to expand...

I pay out-of-the-pocket for all of my optometrist and dental care, so I think that the price Pete was quoting me was the cost to me. I will have to check on it.
 
I hadn't realized I was color "deficient" until I was 18 and testing to get into the Navy ROTC program. They gave me that test with the disc of colored dots, you're supposed to see numbers in the pattern of dots - Isihara? Failed gloriously.

Until that point, I'd thought color blindness meant just that - you can't see colors at all. Me, I can see the primary colors just fine, it's just the borderline hues that trip me up: certain greens go brown depending on the backdrop, or they have an annoying way of shifting back and forth, as do certain reds and oranges. I'd thought that was normal up to that point.

The plates just looked like a very pretty collection of multicolor dots, occasionally with hints that there might be some sort of pattern in there, or a number on one side only. Quite annoying when the tester was asking in surprise, "You can't see anything?" On the other hand, on that test where you sort colors into a spectrum, I do pretty well - but I failed a chemistry test where we were supposed to burn a chemical in a flame and determine what it was, based on the color it produced.

Now I wonder sometimes whether the colors I see are the same for me as they are for anyone else. Is my "red" as bright as his "red"?
 
Carlobrand said:
Now I wonder sometimes whether the colors I see are the same for me as they are for anyone else. Is my "red" as bright as his "red"?
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That is one of those philosphical questions for everyone, not just the "color deficient" (or whatever term you prefer). Short of having some kind of mind-link, how can we ever know whether the way we perceive "green" or "blue" or "red" is the same as everyone else perceives them?
 
I "pass" the Ishihara test in good light, but not in less than natural spectrum light. By natural daylight, I can pass it, but I fail on blue/green on the last two under bright school fluorescent lights.
 
Carlobrand said:
...

Now I wonder sometimes whether the colors I see are the same for me as they are for anyone else. Is my "red" as bright as his "red"?
Click to expand...

Try philosophy (spelling) and discuss this

If a boy is taught that red is green and green is red, are they wrong when you ask for the red ball and they bring you a green one?

That was an actual discussion in upper level course that I took. You should have seen the arguments that one started.

Dave Chase
 
timerover51 said:
Hmmm, my optometrist was quoting me a price of more like $75 retail from him.
Click to expand...

Fritz_Brown said:
Was that what they would charge the insurer, timerover? Or, your co-pay? Or, not covered at all?

*Not to be political, but in America currently there are so many fingers in the pie in medicine, that it's hard to know what the real cost is for something. The real cost could be hidden inside other costs.
Click to expand...

I used to work for Lenscrafters. Optical Lens blanks and Frames(for glasses) actually cost very little. The optical retail industry has a HUGE overhead for equipment, employee training, etc. Regular frames and lens blanks actually cost the company pennies. The precision equipment(not to mention personnel costs) is where the insane costs comes in. The best optical equipment is German made and thus there are import costs. If the Lenses mentioned need to be precisely aligned and cut then(which I'm sure they do), yes, it is going to take precision equipment, not to mention that the Lab making them is going to want to only use their best trained techs making them so that their losses are low.
 
With the advent of informational glasses that can project images and information I suspect that they could/will be used to create colour correction filters for those of us who are colour blind. The ability to switch a filter on in my glasses that allows me to distinguish different colours would be one of the greatest things I can think of.

I wish I had the money for google glasses right now.. that would be the first app I would create for them. (or heck even the steam glasses or many of the other concepts that came before google glasses and and are more open to.

One of my biggest annoyances is that I am not considered disabled because of colour blindness but I am not allowed to work in many industries because of it... I don't view myself as disabled but I do think I am disadvantaged due to it. The worst of it is... it is easy to fix 99% of the reasons that would keep me out of an industry. Use colour blind friendly palettes! (and yes that applies to games, websites, buttons, alerts etc )
 
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