Help For Colorblindness
The FDA recently approved a revolutionary new product to provide relief for those who suffer from colorblindness, reports Correspondent Dave Lopez of KCBS-TV in Los Angeles.
"Most patients have decided 'There's no way to correct this, so I'm going to get through life and learn the best I can'," says optometrist, Dr. Michael Larkin "Now we can offer some new hope to them."
The Color Vision Enhancement Lenses won't give the wearer perfect color vision. But the lenses will sharpen colors and allow them to see contrasts in colors that previously looked similar. More than 12 million people in the U.S. are colorblind.
The lenses, developed by ColorMax Technologies Inc., work through a new technology that alters the wavelength of colors as they enter the eye.
"I was driving down the street and I saw colors in trees that I've never seen before," says patient Errol Higgins.
They are the first lenses to be customized to the patient, accounting for specific needs as well as severity.
Local doctors send a patient's normal glasses to ColorMax's California laboratory to add a special coating, reports Correspondent Dr. Michael Breen of CBS affiliate WBBM-TV in Chicago.
The cost for a pair of lenses is $700.