New purple-tinged spectacles could be answer to colour blindness
London, Feb 8 : Scientists have developed glasses with purple-tinged lenses that enhance reds and greens, allowing those with colour blindness to see them properly.
One tester of the Oxy-Iso lenses, a British academic, has told how he "shivered with excitement" after putting on the 190-pound glasses for the first time.
Dr Daniel Bor, of the University of Sussex, said: "The main thing I have problems with is when people use red and green on graphs in seminars and I can't tell the difference between them."
Putting on the glasses for the first time, he said that it was really quite an exciting moment.
He was with his daughter in the gym and suddenly her lips stood out. She was wearing a red-orange jumper and suddenly it stood out from the surroundings, he said.
The glasses, which were originally developed for medical use, are the brainchild of US scientist Mark Changizi.
The lenses filter out bands of light that interfere with the ability to distinguish various shades of red and green.
The glasses only work for red-green colour blindness. This is the most common form and although rare in women, it affects up to 8 percent of men.
The glasses are already available. However, while they enhance perception of reds and greens, they hamper the ability to distinguish yellows and blues.