D called us the other day about Enchroma glasses and lenses for colorblindness, as we have my dad and my nephew who are both colorblind (as well as H with milder color blindness). Just wondering if anyone here has anyy experiences with the Enchroma glasses and lenses. They sound like they have potential, especially for folks who are VERY colorblind. My dad has a hard time telling colors pretty much at all.
One of the problems with correcting severe color blindness is that you can end up feeling exhausted and overstimulated.
Yes, and if the cone is missing in the eyes, these glasses may not work for such individuals. That’s why we are thinking we would want to have dad try them out first before we pay $500+ per pair, just to be sure they actually help him AT ALL and that he really wants them. We will be in CA & there is a place that carries them probably less than an hour from our hotel. It seems worth a trip over to see what happens when dad tries on the glasses.
My spouse, his brothers, and his dad are all various degrees of colorblind. They haven’t tried this but I’m bookmarking to hear others’ experiences.
Me too. My father was colorblind, as are one of my nephews and one of my sons. I am eager to hear about this. As I’ve always told my son, there are worse things than being colorblind, but if this could be fixed somehow that would be lovely.
The worst part of being colorblind for my son was that he couldn’t see differences in color in chemistry class when they did experiments on elements.
Both sons are colorblind, so I’m curious to hear about this too. However, I’m not sure either one would want to wear glasses, S1 doesn’t need vision correction, and S2 wears contacts. They’re both green deficient.
Where in California?
My older son is color blind, also green deficient. He doesn’t seem to have a problem telling the red traffic light from the green, but he can put together some horrendous clothing matches because he can’t tell browns from greens and how certain colors go together (or maybe that’s not the colorblindness 
I also would like to have him try the glasses and see how much difference they make. When you look at pictures of how the color blind see the world, it makes me sad…but maybe those are depicting the highest level of colorblindness.
Spouse is red green colorblind with some other color difficulties in there. He can tell the lights apart because off where they are. He stops at every blinking light because he can’t tell if it’s red or yellow. Luckily I like driving so I almost always drive.
Other than that it’s mostly minor annoyances. Many things are becoming more colorblind friendly. Most of his computer games have developed colorblind modes over the last few years, for example. I asked him if he’d try these and here said yes but wouldn’t pay several hundred dollars.
OK, there are several places that carry Enchroma in California. The one we will be going to is Family Optometric Vision Care, 290 Grand Ave., Suite 2 (between Lenox & Lee St) in Oakland CA, phone 510-451-9157. They are open M-F, 9-noon and 1:30-5pm. We will be having both H & my dad try out the glasses and see if it makes ANY difference to either of them. If it does, we can order whatever either or both of them want. Prices are just under $400 and up for a pair of sunglasses, so we really do want to be sure it makes a difference before we order them. The other locations are at this link.
http://enchroma.com/locations/
There is supposed to be a 30 day return policy with Enchroma, but we prefer not to hassle with that if we don’t have to. http://enchroma.com/shop/ If it’s great, we may try to convince our local favorite optometrists etc. to carry it. Will let you know how it goes–we plan to go to the shop this week!
From what I’ve read it’s mainly sunglasses and supposed to be used in bright light. It is also not effective for people who are MISSING a cone in their eyes but can help others whose cones are weak, I believe. In any case, it doesn’t help all folks who are colorblind but can really make a difference for some folks. I will be very curious to see how it works for my loved ones. Too bad my colorblind nephew won’t be with them on this trip, so he could try them out too.
Ok asking a stupid question… is there a way of knowing whether or not your cones are “missing” as opposed to “weak” without going to a doctor?
Sorry, I’m not sure. Maybe someone more knowledgeable can weigh in? Sorry, this is all mysterious to me.
We are going to try out the glasses to see if H or my dad notice any difference. The glasses are said to help about 75-80% of people who try them. Even folks with normal vision are supposed to notice increased “popping” of colors, according to promos, so we shall see. It seems like a fun thing for us to try out, since it’s near where we are staying and dad is VERY colorblind and H is somewhat. My D thinks it will be SO COOL if it helps my dad finally see colors the way the rest of us do after all these decades. She’s thrilled she will be present when he first puts them on to see his reaction.
Found another place where you can get “color correcting” glasses or contacts. It involves a very long (5-7+ hour) appointment, often in Maryland and can cost up to $6000, according to at least one 2010 post. He was offering this long before the Enchroma. If the Enchroma glasses work, it’s a bargain in comparison and much more convenient to where we will be. I promise to report back whatever we learn. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
There is a test on their website that is like the one your eye dr may have given you. My H has the type of red-green defect that should be helped by these glasses. We are talking it over and may try a pair.
Well, if you decide to buy with the 30 day money back guarantee, be sure to take very good care of the glasses, just so you don’t have hassles if you need to return them. Pay special attention that the coating is not harmed. We find it difficult to get my dad to try any test, so we figure it’s just easier to have him try on the glasses when we’re on vacation. 
I will report back.
The way S2 loses sunglasses, I’d be loathe to have him try these glasses. I’m interested to hear what kind of difference they make for your H and father, though.
We are keeping our fingers crossed and keeping it a surprise for dad. I’m cautiously optimistic. He’s REALLY colorblind, so not sure what he’d suddenly make of a world of color. We will find out on Friday. I can’t wait! H is pretty good about not losing sunglasses. I think if the item is important to the person, they are able to take better care not to lose it. D loses a LOT of things, but has only lost her phone once in the decade we’ve purchased them for her; same with S.
Thanks for the head’s up about the test. I made spouse take it and it gave him moderate deutan which means the glasses should work. Now I’m more excited to hear about the results from @HImom
I took the test twice. The first time, it told me and H that we both had colorblindness. The 2nd time, I took more time and care and was told I do NOT have colorblindness. I still think it will be interesting to try the glasses, as we KNOW dad is VERY colorblind (tho not sure whether his is too bad for the glasses to even help). It will be a fun outing.
Dang, there really wasn’t a dramatic or significant difference with vs without the enchroma glasses when we had my dad and my H each try on the dark and lighter enchroma glasses. We had SO hoped they’d make a difference. The optometrist said they tend to help folks who are younger more than those who are older. Maybe my nephew (who is many decades younger) can be helped.
My dad can see about half the colors in the rainbow, with or without the glasses. They said there was a meeting about trying to have different glasses for folks with different kinds of colorblindness instead if the one lens that’s supposed to help ALL.
They are very backordered. The woman SATs she sold 6 pairs months ago and has been trying to get six more pairs for her shop and customers, but they’re all waiting and waiting!
@HImom, thanks for the update. It’s disappointing to hear there wasn’t any difference for your father with or without the glasses. I guess we’ll have to wait for the next invention.