Special tinted contact lenses have given keen amateur photographer Colin Payne of Malton a new outlook on life. Colin suffers from color blindness but thanks to a pair of this Specific contact lenses he is now able for the first time to pick out red from green and see various other hues that he has never seen before.
Colin's color blindness first became apparent when, as a child of about five, he was watching a firework display with his parents. They exclaimed, "That firework looks like a traffic light!" But Colin simply could not see any of the colors against the night sky. As an adult, his condition led to some awkward moments, such as when his wife was given instructions to pick up a 'black' bike from the repair shop. After some investigation, it became clear that the bike in question was a maroon shade.
"As a Chartered Accountant, I have to deal with figures which are sometimes shown in red, which obviously presented problems, and on the domestic front I simply couldn't participate in decisions about color décor for the house!"
These problems have now been overcome by the 'magic' contact lenses. This Color System is a range of precision tinted filters - individually prescribed for patients - that are worn as either contact lenses or spectacles. The fitting of Color Sytem lenses re-synchronises and selectively changes the speed of the information in the pathways from the eyes to the brain. The lenses are used by Dyslexia sufferers to help improve their literacy skills, as well as people with color blindness.
Colin discovered this Color System three years ago via an article in the Sunday Times and went to Ruth Perrott Opticians in Castleford for an eye test. A single colored filter fitted in his non-dominant eye resulted in a dramatic improvement in his ability to discriminate color.
"I can now enjoy country walks as never before," explains Colin. "It's wonderful to be able to appreciate the things that other people see. A field of poppies in summer or a holly bush laden with berries, for example. Previously, I would just have seen these dark colored plants, but now the true color stands out in an almost fluorescent effect!
"Amateur photography is one of my hobbies and I can now enjoy it to the full."
