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Written by Theint Aung
Edited by Caleigh Donnelly
Jan 18, 2021
Edited by Caleigh Donnelly
Jan 18, 2021
Can contact lenses help color blind patients? Even though color blindness is one of the most common vision disorders, there is no cure for it yet. Color filtering tinted spectacles exist to help increase the color perception of affected patients, but they are bulky and incompatible with other vision correction glasses.
Researchers from the University of Birmingham have demonstrated the possibility of using dyed contact lenses to increase the color perception. A fluorescent dye called Atto 565 can filter out the wavelength band between the red and green wavelengths, reducing red and green colors confusion. Moreover, the higher the concentration of the dye, the better it can absorb the wavelength. Therefore, the concentration of the dye can be controlled to tailor to each individual. The dye is also nontoxic to the human eyes.
The dyed contact lenses can be fabricated by dipping in the dye solution for 30 seconds. The contact lenses were found to be able to hold and stabilize the dye with a reasonably uniform distribution and no loss of the quality of the contact lenses. However, the major drawback of this study was the dye diffusion from the contact lenses into the eyes. The live eye cells will not be able to absorb the dye, so further studies to improve the immobilization of the dye within the contact lens are needed.
To test the effect of the dyed contact lenses, a survey consisting of both those affected by color blindness and those without were asked to look through the dyed contact lens, which was applied on a glass slide. They were then asked to note whether there were any improvements to the colors or the clarity of the numbers on the Ishihara test slides, which were made up of different colored dots. Both groups of participants identified the improvement of their color perception. However, the levels of improvement acknowledged by the color blindness patients varied significantly.
The dyed contact lenses not only will be able to provide an entire corrected field of view, but also can be successfully developed without using complicated preparation methods. The dyes are low cost and its concentration could be customized to better fit the patient. Therefore, these dyed contact lenses can be a promising management technique that can be used to increase the color perception of affected patients.
Works Cited
Badawy AR, Hassan MU, Elsherif M, Ahmed Z, Yetisen AK, Butt H. Contact Lenses for Color Blindness. Adv Healthc Mater. 2018 Jun;7(12):e1800152. doi: 10.1002/adhm.201800152. Epub2018 Apr 26. PMID: 29696828; PMCID: PMC6691754.
Image Source: "The dyed contact lens on an artificial eye model" by Abdel‐Rahman Badawy, Muhammad Umair Hassan, Mohamed Elsherif, Zubair Ahmed, Ali K. Yetisen, and Haider Butt licensed under CC BY 4.0. / cropped from the original image