Color blind glasses are designed to adjust the way the wearer perceives colors. But there different types of color blindness, each of which requires a different type of corrective lens. Because of this, it’s important that you do your research and find the best color blind glasses that will work for your impairment before you buy.
Once you know the type of color blindness you have, you should have a better idea of where and when you’ll need to use the glasses the most. Some types are designed for outdoor use, while others should be worn indoors only. The glasses designed for outdoor use are slightly tinted, so you can easily handle wearing them in bright light conditions. If you plan on wearing these glasses over your prescription glasses, then you’ll need to find a pair that’s designed specifically for this purpose. You’ll also want to purchase a pair that vibes with your style and the look you’re going for.
These glasses have given hope to color blindness sufferers who thought they would never be able to see the scope of colors the way they were meant to be viewed. Since these glasses hit the market the industry has seen a massive boom in production. While in the past, the only pair you could purchase was available for a few hundred dollars, these days, you’ll find a variety of styles that are available in a wide range of price points, so you’ll be sure to find a pair that works with your budget.
Since their rise in popularity, there has been no shortage of companies that produce low-quality glasses that really don’t do much to correct the wearer’s color blindness. Unfortunately, there are so many companies out there that are producing these fake color blind glasses, that many people end up wasting their hard-earned money. That’s where I come in. I’ve reviewed many of the best-selling glasses on the market, narrowing it down to six pairs of color blind glasses that really work, are available in a variety of styles and types, and are available at a price that won’t break the bank.
Below, you’ll find my comparison chart that lists each of the pairs that made it to my list, what type of color blindness they treat, and the different frame options available, in addition to how they rated.
Table of Contents
Color Blind Glasses Comparison Chart
Product | Blocks Out Blue Light | Indoor or Outdoor | Frame Options | Rating |
---|---|---|---|---|
STBJ Color Blind Glasses Shop On Amazon! | Yes | Indoor | 2 | |
Pilestone Red-Green Glasses Shop On Amazon! | Yes | Outdoor | 1 | |
EnChroma Color Blind Glasses Shop On Amazon! | No | Outdoor | 1 | |
STBJ Color Blind Glasses Shop On Amazon! | No | Indoor/Outdoor | 2 | |
EnChroma Receptor Fitover Shop On Amazon! | No | Indoor/Outdoor | 1 | |
Pilestone Fox News Glasses Shop On Amazon! | No | Indoor/Outdoor | 1 |
STBJ Double Coating Color Blind Glasses
These glasses are designed for people with red-green color blindness and are also designed for those experiencing color weakness, or another related color vision disorder. These are indoor low profile glasses that are stylish, with a modern frame design. The glasses also work to block out blue light, so they’re perfect for the office and those who experience red eyes and eye strain due to computer use. While the glasses can be used outdoors as well, the lenses are not tinted, which can make it difficult to see clearly in bright light conditions. The glasses are covered by a thirty-day money-back guarantee, so you can try them out risk-free and return them within a month for a full refund.
Pros
- Two frame style options
- Blocks out blue light
- Low price
- Treats red/green color blindness
Cons
- Cannot be used outdoors
Conclusion
These glasses are designed for children over the age of twelve and adults. The lenses are designed to filter out harmful UVB and UVA rays, so they’re perfect for people affected by color blindness and those who have computer-based jobs and need glasses that can also block out blue light. The glasses themselves have a modern, low profile look that’s stylish and elegant. However, because the lenses are not tinted, I would not recommend these glasses for outdoor use.
Pilestone Red-Green Color Blind Glasses
These color blind glasses are designed for those affected by red/green color blindness. While the manufacturer claims that the glasses are designed for both indoor and outdoor use, they clearly have a design that’s similar to sunglasses, so if you’re looking for glasses that offer a low profile look for indoor use, these are not it. The titanium-coated purple lenses are durable, scratch-resistant, and water-resistant. They’re also designed to block out blue light from computer, TV, and phone screens, so they can be used at work, when you begin to experience the symptoms of eye strain that’s related to blue light exposure, such as eye fatigue, blurred vision, or headaches. Unfortunately, the glasses are only available in a single frame size and style, which can be a drawback for the buyer looking for a more customized look and fit.
Pros
- Blocks out blue light
- Tinted lenses
- Perfect for outdoor use
- Water-resistant, scratch-resistant lenses
Cons
- Not recommended for indoor use
- Only available in one frame size and style
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a sporty pair of color blindness glasses, this pair by Pilestone delivers. The frames are one size fits all, which can be a drawback for parents searching for glasses for their children or anyone who wants frames that offer a more custom fit. The fact that these glasses can correct color blindness, while blocking out harmful blue light adds to their versatility, but the fact that they have a very sporty look that’s similar to sunglasses can make them a poor choice for the office worker in need of glasses that offer a more low profile look.
EnChroma Color Blind Glasses
These popular EnChroma color blind glasses feature a rectangular, lightweight frame design that will work with most face shapes. The adjustable temple tips and silicone nose pads promote user comfort and a customizable fit. They’re designed for both indoor and outdoor use, but the tinted lenses make them more suitable for outdoors than in the office. This pair comes with a sixty-day trial, with a money-back guarantee, in addition to a two-year product warranty.
The frames are made out of stainless steel, complete with stainless steel spring hinges, for ultimate durability. There’s no question that the price may be too steep for some buyers, but this is the company that started it all, launching the first color blindness glasses way back in 2000. Their glasses have been featured in both the Smithsonian magazine and the New York Times, which is pretty impressive. They’ve earned a reputation for their comfortable fit and effectiveness. Unfortunately, the lenses are not designed to block out blue light, like so many competing glasses are, but if you’re tired of knock off color blindness glasses and you’re looking for a sure thing, then hit that buy now button.
Pros
- Customizable fit
- Durable frame design
- Perfect for outdoor use
- Two-year warranty
Cons
- Price
- Does not block blue light
Conclusion
These glasses are the real deal. Designed to correct red-yellow color blindness, offering a customizable fit, and equipped with lightweight, durable frames, these glasses are worth the steep price tag if you’re searching for powerful color blindness glasses that are effective and can instantly change how you see the world around you.
STBJ Color Blind Glasses
These glasses are perfect for indoor and outdoor use and designed to correct red/green color blindness and other types of related color vision disorders. The frames are available in both half and full-frame styles, so you can choose a frame that works for your look. While the glasses are versatile and designed for indoor and outdoor use, they’re best suited for bright light conditions. These glasses are covered by a thirty-day one hundred percent money-back guarantee, so you can return them within one month, risk-free. While the colored lenses make it obvious that these are not your basic reading glasses, the frames themselves are very modern, sleek, low profile, and lightweight.
Pros
- Lightweight frames
- Modern design
- Designed for indoor and outdoor use
- Thirty-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- Colored lenses
- Does not block blue light
- Works better in bright light conditions
Conclusion
These affordable, lightweight glasses are perfect for both indoor and outdoor use, although they’re the most effective in bright light conditions. The low price combined with the thirty-day money-back guarantee will allow you to purchase these glasses, risk-free, try them for a month and return them if they don’t help to improve your color vision related problems. This pair is a great buy for anyone on a budget in need of color blindness glasses that are versatile and effective.
EnChroma Receptor Fitover
These best-selling glasses by EnChroma are durable, lightweight, and designed for all-day wear. The frames are designed to fit over prescription glasses, so they feature a wider design. The frames are made out of TR90 which is a type of lightweight material that’s very durable and commonly used in sportswear frames. The glasses are covered by a two-year warranty and also come with a sixty-day money-back guarantee, so you can return them within this period if you’re unsatisfied with their performance.
Pros
- Fits over prescription glasses
- Made out of durable lightweight material
- Covered by a two-year warranty
- Designed for indoor and outdoor use
Cons
- Designed for prescription glasses wearers only
- Steep price
Conclusion
These glasses are designed specifically to fit over prescription glasses, which means they will be too wide for people who don’t wear glasses. The lightweight, durable material allows you to wear these glasses all day long, without discomfort. The lenses are designed to repel dust, dirt, and water, and feature an anti-scratch coating. Perfect for indoor and outdoor use, while the price may be steep, these glasses are definitely worth every penny.
Pilestone Fox News Reported: Golden Mermaid GM-2 Colorblind Glasses
These unisex color blindness glasses are lightweight, durable, and work for both indoor and outdoor use, although they tend to perform better in bright light conditions. The lenses are water-resistant and feature an anti-scratch coating, which further adds to their durability. They’re offered at a reasonable price and feature light pink lenses and a frame style that’s similar to reading glasses, so if you’re looking for a more modern looking pair of glasses instead of a pair that’s loud and sporty, these glasses are a great option.
Pros
- Lightweight frames
- Lenses have an anti-scratch coating
- Low price
- Low profile look
Cons
- Do not protect against blue light
- One frame size
Conclusion
These glasses are designed for indoor and outdoor use, feature a low profile design that makes them suitable for both in the office and when you’re out running errands. The low price allows even the buyer on a budget to experience color like never before. Unlike some competing models, these glasses do not block out harmful blue light, so they’re not the best choice if you have a computer-based job. Overall, these glasses are lightweight durable, and a steal for the price.
Color Blind Glasses Buyer’s Guide
This buyer’s guide will go over the two different types of color blindness, discuss how these glasses work to correct this color vision problem, and what features to look for to ensure you purchase a pair of color blind glasses that really work, are designed to last, and can handle both bright and low light conditions. In most cases, you will not find glasses that are designed to treat blue-yellow color blindness, since it’s very rare, which is why I’ve only included glasses that can correct red/green color blindness. Now let’s learn more about color blindness, who’s at risk, and how these glasses can help.
What is Color Blindness
Many people know what color blindness is, but not many are aware that there is more than one type, what causes color blindness, or even how it’s treated. Until recently, there have been no treatments that can help improve this condition, and unfortunately, there is no cure.
So, what is color blindness exactly and what causes it? This condition prevents a person from seeing certain colors accurately. There may be certain colors that a person is not able to tell apart. In most cases, both of the eyes will be affected and it’s a condition that cannot be reversed. Color blindness occurs when the retina is not able to detect colors because the cones in the retinas don’t function properly or are missing. This condition occurs if there’s a problem with one or more of the cones in the retinas. If there is more than a single cone missing or they do not work correctly, then that person will suffer from severe color blindness.
If someone has mild color blindness, then they may be able to see colors in bright light conditions, but can have difficulty telling them apart in low light conditions. A person with severe color blindness will not be able to tell one color from the next, regardless of bright or dark light conditions. The most severe form of color blindness causes the affected person to only see colors in different shades of gray. However, this form of color blindness is considered extremely rare.
There are a couple of main types of color blindness: blue-yellow and red-green.
Red/Green
This is the most common type of color blindness. Either the green or red cone is affected, so a person will not be able to see greens or red. If the red cone is the issue, they may be able to see yellow, orange, or red shades as greener than what they really are, or colors may seem very dull. They may also see red shades as green, orange, yellow, or black, and shades of green as yellow.
If the green cone is the culprit, then they may see yellow and green shades as more red than what they really are and they’ll be unable to distinguish blue from purple. They may also see red shades as a yellow-brown or green as beige.
Blue/Yellow
This type of color blindness isn’t as common. The cones that are able to see blue will be affected, which means that shades of blue may appear green and the affected person may have trouble distinguishing red and yellow from pink. In some cases, shades of yellow may look gray or purple.
To learn more, click here to read my guide on the different types of color blindness
Types of Color Correction
In order for glasses to work to correct color blindness the buyer must know what type of color blindness they have. Many of the glasses on the market are designed to correct red/green color blindness. There are not as any options available for glasses that can correct blue/yellow color blindness.
Before you buy a pair of these glasses, check out the manufacturer’s spec sheet to ensure the glasses are designed to treat the type of color blindness you have.
Outdoor or Indoor
Some glasses are designed for indoor use only. With these glasses, artificial lighting can have an impact on the way they see colors. Other types of glasses will be designed for outdoor use and will work better in the sun since they come equipped with tinted lenses. You may also come across glasses that are designed for both outdoor and indoor use.
When you’re shopping for glasses, you should consider where you’ll wear them the most since you’ll want to choose glasses that are equipped to handle the lighting you experience the most often.
Never wear glasses that are designed for indoor use outdoors or vice versa.
Frame Design
You’ll find a variety of frame styles and colors available. Make sure you choose frames that are made out of lightweight metal or plastic. Some frames are highly adjustable and designed for improved fit and comfort. Many styles resemble sunglasses frames, so you’ll have no trouble finding a stylish pair that will work for your look. Glasses that feature frames made out of metal often have a very low-key look, which is perfect for the wearer that doesn’t want to make it obvious that they’re wearing color blindness glasses.
If you have prescription glasses and want to use color blindness glasses at the same time, then look for frames that are large enough to be worn over your regular glasses, or you can choose a wrap-around style. Wrap-around glasses are often much larger, which will make it easy to slip them on over another pair of glasses.
Lens Coating
If you want to wear these glasses over your prescription glasses, then you’ll need to use a pair of color blind glasses that come with an anti-reflective lens coating, which will minimize reflections between the glasses, which can have a negative impact on your vision.
Adjustment Period
For most people, it will take some time for their eyes to adjust to these lenses. If you’re buying darker tinted glasses then it will typically take the eyes fifteen minutes to adjust. In order for your eyes to fully adjust to both indoor or outdoor glasses, most manufacturers will recommend wearing the glasses for at least ten hours in different lighting situations over the course of ten days.
Side Effects
One of the most common concerns people have about these glasses are the side effects. If you wear prescription glasses, then you already know that side effects from glasses use can be very debilitating in some cases.
Unlike prescription glasses, you shouldn’t experience any type of side effects such as headaches, dizziness, or nausea, as your eyes adjust to wearing them. However, if you do experience eye strain or eye pain and a headache, this may be a sign that you’ve chosen the wrong type of color blindness glasses. If you’re not sure what type of color blindness you suffer from, contact your eye care specialist.
How These Glasses Work
Those affected by color blindness or parents of children with color blindness may wonder exactly how these glasses work and what to expect in terms of results. While these glasses won’t work the same for everyone, in many cases, the results are pretty impressive.
These glasses work by selectively filtering out wavelengths of light at the correct point where there is an excessive overlap of color sensitivity. The lens technology will increase the contrast between the green and red color signals, alleviating many of the symptoms of color blindness and allowing the wearer to experience colors the way they were meant to be.
While most colorblind glasses tend to look like regular prescription glasses or sunglasses, many simply work to boost the saturation of green and red light, which helps to improve color vision in people that are affected with red/green color blindness. As I mentioned, this is the most common type of colorblindness and it affects one in two hundred women and one in twelve men. Most people have three cones in their eyes that sense color: blue, green, and red. The wavelengths of light that each cone is able to absorb have overlapping regions. As you know by now, colorblindness is the result of a cone that’s missing or malfunctioning. A malfunctioning cone can cause the wavelengths to overlap more than they should, which results in poor color perception. These glasses come with a filter that’s designed to cut out the overlapping wavelengths and allow for a precise distinction between each color, especially greens and reds.
There is no cure for colorblindness, and manufacturers that produce these glasses do not make claims that their glasses are the cure. Instead, these glasses should be thought of as a solution of sorts, much like reading glasses can help those suffering from farsightedness, but they’re not considered a cure for that vision problem.
Many researchers believe that a true cure for colorblindness is a real possibility, in the form of gene therapy which would deliver functional genes to the cells in the retina that are color responsive. But until a time when a cure is available, these glasses are an effective, affordable solution.
Symptoms of Color Blindness
Symptoms associated with color blindness can range from mild to severe. In some cases, the symptoms are so mild that the person affected may not even be aware that they have a color deficiency. Some parents will notice a problem with their child’s vision when they’re trying to teach them about colors.
Some symptoms can include trouble seeing the brightness of colors in the typical way.
The inability to differentiate between the shades of a similar color. This often happens with yellow and blue, and green and red. Color blindness doesn’t affect the sharpness of vision, except in the most severe form. The inability to see any type of color and to view every color as a shade of gray refers to the severe form of color blindness known as achromatopsia. This type of color blindness is usually associated with:
- Poor vision
- Light sensitivity
- Nystagmus
- Amblyopia
Causes
Typically, people with color blindness are born with it. This type of color blindness is referred to as congenital color blindness. This condition is usually passed from mother to son. This type of defect is often due to the complete or partial lack of cones in the retina.
Color vision problems that occur later on in life can be a result of:
- Vascular disease
- Metabolic disease
- Toxic effects from drug use
- Trauma
- Disease
Disease-specific color blindness will usually affect each eye differently. Color blindness caused by disease tends to worsen over time. Color vision loss can also be the result of damage to the optic nerve or the retina.
Certain conditions can also increase your risk of acquiring color blindness, such as:
- Diabetes
- Glaucoma
- Leukemia
- Chronic alcoholism
- Parkinson’s disease
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Macular degeneration
- Sickle cell anemia
Certain types of drugs can also increase your risk of color blindness, such as drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
Will These Glasses Work for Everyone?
These glasses will not work for everyone and cannot change color perception for people who do not have green or red photoreceptors. The positive effects of these glasses will only last as long as you’re wearing them, so once you take them off, you’ll still have the same issues. The glasses are not able to modify the visual cortex, optic nerves, or photoreceptors, in order to fix color blindness. Basically, glasses cannot repair or replace broken or missing mechanisms in the eye. These glasses will change what you see and enhance the distinction between green and red, however, the experience can vary from person to person and unfortunately, these glasses are not able to provide the equivalent of natural color.
Because these glasses are designed to reduce the amount of light that enters the eye, it may not be a good idea to wear them at night. Reducing the amount of light that enters the eye can be an issue for people with other vision problems such as macular degeneration or cataracts. Most glasses manufacturers also warn against wearing them when driving, even if the glasses are designed for outdoor use.
To find out if these glasses will work for you, click here to read my in-depth article on do color blindness glasses really work?
Price
For the consumer on a budget, cost will be a concern. Insurance companies classify these glasses as a luxury item, so they will not be covered by your vision insurance. Some types can cost hundreds of dollars and may not provide the type of results you’re hoping for. Because of this, it’s very important that you have realistic expectations in terms of how these glasses will improve your condition. Some people will experience dramatic results, while others will only notice a subtle difference.
Final Thoughts
The best color blind glasses will allow you to see colors the way they are meant to be seen, for the first time. Many people with color blindness have gone their entire lives without seeing these true colors. Since these glasses hit the market they have had such a huge impact on color blindness sufferers. Of course, not all glasses are created equal, which is why I made it my mission to review many of the best-selling models, to help you find a pair that really works and can perform exactly the way the manufacturer claims they do. My buyer’s guide and my product recommendations are designed to help you choose the perfect pair for you, whether you need them for indoor or outdoor use and a mild or severe form of color blindness.