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Special lenses may restore color vision for people with color blindness
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PARIS — Special lenses that can be mounted on any spectacle frame can effectively correct color blindness, according to Philippe Sourdille, MD.
At a symposium sponsored by Medicontur during the meeting of the French Society of Ophthalmology, Sourdille spoke on behalf of György Ábrahám, MD, principal investigator of this technology.
Philippe Sourdille
More than 200 million people in the world, 8% of men and 0.4% of women, are color blind. Prevalence varies according to geographical areas and is at its peak in the U.S. and Europe, where 13 million people and 29 million people, respectively, are affected.
“Color blind people cannot obtain a driving license in some countries and have several professional limitations,” Sourdille said.
He explained that color blindness is a defect of genetic origin or more rarely acquired as a consequence of trauma. It is related to anomalies in the photoreceptors, specifically cones, and can be explained functionally as a spectral sensitivity shift of the receptors rather than by reduced sensitivity, as it was previously thought.
“The spectral sensitivity curves of receptors of an eye with anomalous color vision are different from the corresponding sensitivity of an eye with normal color vision,” Sourdille said.
Special filters added to the lenses readjust the sensitivity curves of receptors to make them overlap with the normal curve.
“Due to the nature of the technology, even with several layers of antireflective coating, the lenses have a slightly metallic-reflective surface, but the eyes behind the lens are still visible,” Sourdille said.
Clinical studies were carried out at Semmelweis University in Hungary, and people with protanomaly/deuteranomaly could immediately pass the Ishihara test with almost 100% results. – by Michela Cimberle
Reference:
Sourdille P. Alteration of color vision: The remedy. Presented at: French Society of Ophthalmology meeting; May 7-10, 2016; Paris.
Disclosure: Sourdille reports he is a consultant to Medicontur.