Monday, June 23, 2008

Cure for Color Blindness

For the last 41 years I've been color blind. As a kid, I colored in things wrong and failed (to everyone's amazement) those tests where you have to pick out a number or letter from a circle filled with colored dots. As an adult, I've made fashion faux pas, mixing the wrong colors so many times that my wife now checks to make sure I'm not a walking eyesore of color.

Anyway, I recently got a new pair of sunglasses: a polarized pair of Oakley Hijinx. These replace a pair of Arnett Hot Cakes that I've had for over 10 years. After all that time, my wife and daughter convinced me that they looked silly; I looked as if I was a fly or maybe wearing goggles.

The polarization in these new glasses is incredible. I can see colors! At first it was a bit overwhelming. Everything just jumped out at me. Yellows were too bright. I'd get mesmerized by the different shades of green in a tree. I could tell the difference (for the first time) between the amber and red lights on street light. (I used to gauge the light's color by its position.)

I took an online color blindness test just to confirm that the glasses were helping. I scored 3 of 10 without the sunglasses., 6 of 10 with. I think I might have done better without taking the test on a computer: with the glasses on, I can barely see the screen.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm interested in purchasing a pair. What color lens did you get?

Anonymous said...

Which color lens did you get?

rob said...

I don't know what you mean. Being color blind, I'm not sure what color the lenses are. I think they just make one color of polarized lenses. If not, I suggest trying a ocupe of pairs to see what works best for you.

Nunya said...

I got my new prescription glasses today, and bought a pair of clip-on polarized sunglasses to use until I can afford prescription sunglasses.

When I put them on, I was stunned. I can see colour!! Like you, I was awestruck at all the shades of green I was looking at. Flowers just POPPED...I'm absolutely amazed!

I'll never wear another pair of regular sunglasses again.

Kyle said...

I had a pair of glasses that I played golf with that I felt like was helping me see colors better. My dad thought I was just messing with him. I only ever wore them at golf and when I finally took them out of my bag I lost them, like I do all glasses! I think I had a pair of Tifosi glasses with blue lens. Your post came about the same time I had those glasses and ironically on my birthday. I was actively looking for this info and all of the stars seem to align. I am headed to the store to buy another pair of these polarized glasses and I am bring a colorblind test with me to verify before the purchase.

-Kyle, Ft Worth