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What are EnChroma Glasses?

EnChroma lenses are a product that can help reduce some forms of colour blindness and enhance the amount of colour an individual affected can see. This technology is based on research spanning over a decade on understanding causes of colour blindness. These lenses were then engineered to be an optical technology created to address the problem.

SPEX by Ryan is proud to be one of the Canadian Authorized Retail locations to offer you these colour enhancing glasses. EnChroma glasses are not only a science – they are designed to be fashionable too. So that’s two ways they will help you to look good.

How does vision work?

Your eye is filled with a large grid of cells and light receptors that work together to take an image and turn it into neural signals that are sent to the brain. Each cell is colour specific, and responds to light of that specific frequency. There are three types of cone cells that correspond to the three primary colours of light: red, green and blue.

Eyes respond to the light and images, but your vision is formed in the brain’s visual cortex. Your brain will then process a vast amount of information that will end up being what you see – including properties such as motion shape and colour.

The importance of seeing colour

Colour is an important distinguisher in interpreting what we see. For example, colour vision can help objects stand out, such as apples in a tree filled with leaves. In today’s society we are faced with the need to distinguish colours quickly from each other – such as the colours of a traffic light. Colour vision is important to how we see and interpret the world around us.

Colour Blindness

Colour blindness (also known as colour vision deficiency), is a condition in which the retinal cone cells respond to light differently than normal. Colour blindness does not mean that someone will see the world in black and white, but will mix up colours or have trouble distinguishing between certain pairs of colours.

Approximately 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some degree of colour blindness. There are a few types of colour blindness, but the most common one is known as “red-green colorblindness”.

The degree of colour blindness can range from almost normal colour perception to an almost total absence of perception of the colour in question. Colour blindness will occur when one or more of the three types of cones (the red, green and blue) in your eyes do not function properly. The three different conditions are:

Protanomaly – a reduced sensitivity to red light
Deuteranomaly – a reduced sensitivity to green light. This is the most common form of colour blindness
Tritanomaly – a reduced sensitivity to blue light (it is extremely rare)

Protanomaly and deuteranomaly are grouped together and called red-green colour-blind. This leads to difficulty in telling apart reds, greens, browns and oranges, although sometimes will confuse different types of blue and purple tones.

People affected by tritanomaly have difficulty identifying differences between blue and yellow, violet and red and blue and green.

How EnChroma Helps

Scientists now know that red-green colour deficiency is mostly caused due to the retinal cones cells overlapping when responding to light. Instead of a seperate response to each wavelength of light, the cells will overlap or respond similarly. This is what leads to the colour confusions in people who experience colour blindness.

EnChroma lenses can help to compensate for the overlap. By utilizing revolutionary optical materials that selectively remove particular wavelengths of light exactly where the overlap is occurring, EnChroma lenses will enhance the colour vision of the wearer.

According to statistics, about 80%, or 4 out of 5, people who experience some form of partial colour blindness will benefit from EnChroma glasses.

If you, or someone you know, has to live with colour blindness come down to SPEX by Ryan and we can help test you and fit you with EnChroma glasses.

Am I Colour Blind?

Colour blindness, or colour deficiency, is a lot more prevalent than most people are aware. This is due to the fact that colour blindness has a range of severity – meaning it could be mild or could potentially really affect a person’s vision.

If you are unsure if you experience any form of colour deficiency you can take a quick online test here:

Take the test

Or feel free to come on down to SPEX – our staff here will be able to help you out!

Give us a holler!

SPEX By Ryan provides Regina , Saskatoon and area with an alternative point of view on the eyewear experience, specializing in independent fashion and technology. Ryan Horne, a staple in the eyewear community for over two decades, has introduced a fascinating world of independent eyewear and technology to Saskatchewan, bringing in the world’s finest eyewear collections to our small city.