Colour Blindness

How We Treat Your Colourblindness

Cowichan Eyecare is dedicated to giving our patients truly exceptional care. This means going above and beyond when it comes to the products, services, and treatments we provide.

Although we cannot currently cure colour blindness, we can help you to discover the world in colour with EnChroma.

See the World in Colour

EnChroma lenses use incredible technology to filter certain wavelengths of light, resulting in enhanced colour vision for the wearer. This technology has been adjusted to make a wide range of lenses available to suit a variety of different colour vision deficiencies.

You can test yourself to see if you have a form of colour blindness by checking out the Colour Blindness Test on Enchroma’s website. This test will help you determine if you have any form of colour vision deficiency.
If you believe you have a form of colour blindness, please book an eye exam with us so we can help you find the right pair of Enchroma eye glasses to best serve your vision.

Give yourself – or someone you love – the gift of colour. Contact your local Cowichan Eyecare office to learn more today.

What is Colour Vision Deficiency?

Colour vision deficiency (CVD) – often referred to as colourblindness – affects millions of people worldwide. With 1 in 10 men affected by this visual deficiency, it’s an incredibly common condition.

Our eyes use cells called cones to perceive light. An eye with regular colour vision has 3 types of cones, which are each used to detect different types of colour. When someone is colour deficient in their vision, it means that some or all of their cones are not functioning properly.

These cones are generally classified by the types of wavelengths they detect:

1. S-cones are short-wavelength sensitive and perceive light on the “blue” spectrum.
2. M-cones are middle-wavelength sensitive and perceive light on the “green” spectrum.
3. L-cones are long-wavelength sensitive and perceive light on the “red” spectrum.

Monochromacy

To be technical, actual colour blindness – the total inability to identify any type of colour – is called monochromacy, or sometimes, achromatopsia. It occurs when This type of colour vision deficiency is extremely rare in comparison to the following types.

Dichromacy

CVD of this variety occurs when individuals only have 2 types of functioning cones. Because 1 cone type does not function, the eyes cannot see any colours in a particular area of the light spectrum. As a result, any colours within the affected spectrum are more difficult to distinguish than others.

Anomalous Trichromacy

This type of CVD is characterized by all types of cones functioning, but one improperly. This is the most common type of colour vision deficiency and results in reduced sensitivity to one type of light, which causes some colours to be less distinguishable from others.