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Color Vision and Color Blindness
What is it like to be color blind? I can tell you, as a red/green blind person (a protanope), that chromatically challenged people function quite well in everyday life! One of my previous projects examined the benefits of monocular colored filters for color blind observers, an idea that goes back as far as James Clerk Maxwell (1855). Make sure you read the resulting paper [PubMed link] before spending your hard earned money on colored contact lenses or glasses to "cure" color blindness. Another one of my project showed that color discrimination in red/green blind observers is as good as normal people at very high light levels [pdf]. This is because very bright red and green lights are able to tickle the blue sensitive cone photoreceptors and red/green blind observers can use this information to make color discriminations. Although it wasn’t a part of the experiment, I’m sure that it would still be better to have my Mom match up my socks.
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Color Vision Testing
You can test your own color vision by taking the web-based color vision test developed at City University, London.
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What do color blind people see?
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 Vischeck is a web site developed by color vision experts to show what things look like to a color blind person. You can run Vischeck on your own image files or run Vischeck on a web page.
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Refractive Surgery
Thinking of having Refractive Surgery? The lure of high profits often leads refractive surgeons to underemphasize possible complications and to overestimate post-surgery optical quality. For a more balanced view, check out the following web sites:
The excellent web site "I Know Why Refractive Surgeons Wear Glasses" was posted on AOL during 1997 and was maintained until 1999. It seems to have disappeared, so I have re-posted it here: Eye Know Why
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 Surgical Eyes is an organization founded by people with longer-term complications from refractive surgery to assist others who have had unsuccessful surgeries.
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In June of 2002, the University of Rochester's Center for Visual Science hosted a three-day symposium entitled "Engineering the Eye." The symposium brought together basic scientists, clinical researchers, and engineers who shared an interest in marshalling the latest technological developments in ophthalmic optics to improve vision and retinal imaging. A number of presentations dealt with the current status of refractive surgery and the innovations that are on the horizon. You can view the schedule and some pdf and web-based versions of the talks at the symposium's web site.
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