Do glasses help correct colorblindness?

[Random]

At his last eye appointment, my son was confirmed to be 80%-90% colorblind.  The eye doc said EnChroma glasses wouldn't be much help for him, but may help him distinguish borders between colors. 

Unfortunately, my son is insisting (INSISTING) the glasses would help him see color because he sees advertisements saying so.  Son really wants to buy these glasses for himself.  If they don't work, he says he can just 'sell them on ebay or something.'  I already told him I wouldn't buy them for him because of what the doc said.  They are really expensive, IMO!

He is relentless about getting some glasses.  The eye doc says son is pretty far over on the spectrum and the glasses wouldn't be much help.  Son thinks the doc doesn't know what he's talking about because he's getting solicitations saying the glasses work (son has hardcore teen brain).  I told son I'd do some research to find out if there was something the doc wasn't aware of that would help.  I'm finding that the doc was probably right, and that the glasses aren't going to help son actually see colors.

Are there glasses that actually help someone who is significantly colorblind see color?

[Lori D.]

Here is an article that clearly explains the situation. It sounds like your son's physician is absolutely correct -- EnChroma glasses do not provide the ability to see color in the way that most people do. The glasses can help some enhance the ability to distinguish between red and green for some people (depending on what type of color blindness they have. Note: the glasses reduce the overall amount of light received by the eye, so not advisable to wear them at night.

Perhaps ask the physician if he has a pair of the EnChroma glasses that DS could try on so he could see for himself exactly how much/how little change the glasses provide?

[gardenmom5]

I read some about this out of curiosity.

There are different types of colorblindness - and how much the glasses help, is entirely dependent upon the type of colorblindness a person has.  some types, they wont' help at all.

[sweet2ndchance]

My dh is red-green color blind and slightly blue-yellow color blind. He agrees with the others and your son's eye doctor that glasses aren't likely to help. 

[Miss Tick]

Ok, but how to convince your ds? Are the glasses expensive? Too expensive to justify experimenting with them to satisfy his curiosity? If he is willing to spend his own money, despite the dr.'s opinion, is that, in your family's culture, his choice to make? Maybe he really could resell them in eBay.

Would a second opinion convince him for less cost?

None of these need to be answered here, just food for thought.

[Emba]

I have heard of those glasses, and seen videos about them on YouTube, which I found interesting and researched a little even though neither I nor my family members are color blind. 
 

I would guess your child’s eye doctor is right if he thinks they wouldn’t help, but the en chroma website has an online test that is supposed to determine if they will help/what kind to get, and then they also have a trial period, during which you’re supposed to be able to get your money back if they don’t work.

 So it might be worth doing just to really satisfy your child’s curiosity and satisfy them that you’ve really done all you can to try to help, if you look into it and it really is that low-risk, financially. Unless you just can’t afford it even if they do work. 

[Selkie]

Interesting, I've never heard of these glasses. I'll have to mention them to my dh, who is colorblind. He's not bothered by his colorblindness at all, though, so I'm sure he wouldn't buy them.

[Random]

55 minutes ago, Emba said:

I have heard of those glasses, and seen videos about them on YouTube, which I found interesting and researched a little even though neither I nor my family members are color blind. 
 

I would guess your child’s eye doctor is right if he thinks they wouldn’t help, but the en chroma website has an online test that is supposed to determine if they will help/what kind to get, and then they also have a trial period, during which you’re supposed to be able to get your money back if they don’t work.

 So it might be worth doing just to really satisfy your child’s curiosity and satisfy them that you’ve really done all you can to try to help, if you look into it and it really is that low-risk, financially. Unless you just can’t afford it even if they do work. 

I totally missed this info on their website.  This might be the deciding factor.

[Junie]

I would absolutely find a way for him to try them.  If he has seen the youtube videos of people trying these glasses, he is absolutely going to want to try them.  And it sounds like he is so hopeful that they will work for him that I don't know if he will be satisfied that they won't work unless he tries them on himself.

There might be an eye doctor in your area that keeps a pair in stock for people to try.  You might want to call around.

[Tanaqui]

The only way to convince him is for him to try them. Since there seems to be a trial period, I'd go with that - and remember to bite my tongue when the doctor is right!

Edited December 3, 2020 by Tanaqui

[Random]

1 hour ago, SusanC said:

Ok, but how to convince your ds? Are the glasses expensive? Too expensive to justify experimenting with them to satisfy his curiosity? If he is willing to spend his own money, despite the dr.'s opinion, is that, in your family's culture, his choice to make? Maybe he really could resell them in eBay.

Would a second opinion convince him for less cost?

None of these need to be answered here, just food for thought.

Right? 

It's usually the kid's choice (within reason) to spend his/her money on what he/she chooses.  I'd feel so bad for him, though, if he buys them and they don't work. 

[Lori D.]

1 hour ago, SusanC said:

Ok, but how to convince your ds? Are the glasses expensive? Too expensive to justify experimenting with them to satisfy his curiosity? If he is willing to spend his own money, despite the dr.'s opinion, is that, in your family's culture, his choice to make? Maybe he really could resell them in eBay.

It looks like they run between $300-$350. It looks like if you go through a provider, there is a 60-day full-refund for returning the glasses if they don't work for you.

However, I just saw this in a Healthline article: "In a small 2017 study of 10 adults with red-green color blindness, results indicated that EnChroma glasses only led to significant improvement in distinguishing colors for two people"

[Random]

1 minute ago, Tanaqui said:

The only way to convince him is for him to try them. Since there seems to be a trial period, I'd go with that - and remember to bite my tongue when the doctor is right!

In my opinion, this would be the best possible outcome!  I'd be right and he'd have to face that....something that's hard for him at this age.  😄

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

3 minutes ago, Random said:

In my opinion, this would be the best possible outcome!  I'd be right and he'd have to face that....something that's hard for him at this age.  😄

 

As someone with major vision loss, which includes color blindness along with generalized central vision loss, the sense of grief/loss is real.  The best response to the glasses not working is, "I'm so sorry.  I really hoped that they would work for you."  This is not the moment to say, "See, sometimes mom really is right."  

Perfectly intelligent, reasonable adults seek out near-miracle cures for all sorts of things when they are told conventional medicine has nothing to offer.  While it may very well be partially a teen thing, it is also just a human thing.  

After this whole thing has gone bad, and the time is right, he can maybe be gently led to how toxic marketing campaigns are, and how they use deep psychological tricks to bypass our rational brains and hit us right int he gut.  The en chroma one are particularly bad.  

 

On a positive note, I have recently switched to wearing an amber (I think... might be yellow, can't remember) tinted pair of glasses when I go running around twilight.  The lenses had come as optional in the sunglasses I bought a couple years ago, and I'd never bothered with trying to even figure out what they were for.  While researching something else, I came across information about why amber tints are useful- they increase contrast in low light conditions.  So I switched out the sunglass lenses for the amber ones.  And YES!!!  They really do help me significantly in cloudy, foggy, and twilight conditions with contrast and depth perception.  It's made my evening running routine much more "visible".  So it's not all snake oil.  

 

 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

The enchroma article on wikipedia is short but good, and shows that one of the issues is that they can act like any tinted lens, causing us to see colors we already see as slightly different shades.  

My fear for your son is that this would create a placebo effect when he first puts them on.  If you choose to try them, I would definitely have it involve a colorblindness test during the trial period to get an objective measure.  

[Random]

22 minutes ago, Monica_in_Switzerland said:

 

As someone with major vision loss, which includes color blindness along with generalized central vision loss, the sense of grief/loss is real.  The best response to the glasses not working is, "I'm so sorry.  I really hoped that they would work for you."  This is not the moment to say, "See, sometimes mom really is right."  

Perfectly intelligent, reasonable adults seek out near-miracle cures for all sorts of things when they are told conventional medicine has nothing to offer.  While it may very well be partially a teen thing, it is also just a human thing.  

After this whole thing has gone bad, and the time is right, he can maybe be gently led to how toxic marketing campaigns are, and how they use deep psychological tricks to bypass our rational brains and hit us right int he gut.  The en chroma one are particularly bad.  

 

On a positive note, I have recently switched to wearing an amber (I think... might be yellow, can't remember) tinted pair of glasses when I go running around twilight.  The lenses had come as optional in the sunglasses I bought a couple years ago, and I'd never bothered with trying to even figure out what they were for.  While researching something else, I came across information about why amber tints are useful- they increase contrast in low light conditions.  So I switched out the sunglass lenses for the amber ones.  And YES!!!  They really do help me significantly in cloudy, foggy, and twilight conditions with contrast and depth perception.  It's made my evening running routine much more "visible".  So it's not all snake oil.  

 

 

Yes, of course.  I'm not an ogre, I promise. (not saying you are saying I am!) I don't say, "I told you so," to my kids.  I'm sorry for your losses.  We are dealing with something quite different.

I was trying to be funny because I use humor to cope with a house full of teenagers who are sure they are right and mom is wrong 100% of the time.  Incidentally, I understand that the best outcome would actually be if the glasses worked for him, not if I was proved right.

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by Random
just because?

[Terabith]

I have a friend who is red-green color blind who got a pair.  They didn't really work for him.  

[Miss Tick]

18 minutes ago, Terabith said:

I have a friend who is red-green color blind who got a pair.  They didn't really work for him.  

Maybe he wants to sell them to Random's ds... 🙂

[Terabith]

Just now, SusanC said:

Maybe he wants to sell them to Random's ds... 🙂

They were prescription enchroma glasses, so I don't think it would work.  (Had his normal glasses prescription as well as the enchroma)