One light! Two light! Red light! Green light?

As an achromat, I am completely color blind - only shades of grey. One of the biggest challenges driving is seeing the different color lights. When I wear brown or grey sunglasses, I can see green lights, but I cannot see red lights or brakes lights. When I wear red contacts and red filters, the red lights and brake lights jump out at me but I lose the green lights.

Most achromats make a choice to either see green lights or see red lights but do not have a way to see both. I chose red lights. I feel much more comfortable being able to see brake lights. I drive on busy streets and highways so brake lights are important to me. I did not want to just rely on closing the gap on the car in front of me to know he has applied his brakes. Overall, this was not an issue. I knew when lights were yellow and red and if I saw nothing it was green, no worries. But, I could not turn left at any intersection that had a 5 light signal - solid red, solid yellow, solid green, yellow arrow, and green arrow. When the green arrow comes on the red solid is still lit so I have no idea that the green arrow is illuminated. If this was only a few intersections here and there, I would not worry about it but it is at many intersections. 

I have spent the last several months researching contact lens colors and filter colors that will allow me to see both red and green. Image to the right shows these signals. (Signal Image). I read a blog about another person with a similar condition and he used red filters for carrier vision and then did not have red over the bioptic scope. This would allow seeing the green lights though the scope. From what I gathered he did not have any filter on the scope which would be to bright for me. I was able to borrow a ring of colors from noir-medical. NOIR does speciality colors including dark reds. I also had to play with my contact lens colors. If the lens was pure red, I could not get green regardless of filter color. I tried a dark brown but it was just to dark with the red filter and I lost detail. Right now it appears the ones that will be best are the NARZ (black with red) from Low Vision Center of Indiana and some I had custom made brown with a touch of red through Dr Hixson in La Mesa. I had to ensure I had enough red to get brake lights and red signals to still pop but not so much red that I lose green completely.

NOIR color ring

The next step was the filter and the filter cap. I went to see Dr Yevseyenkov at Midwestern University Eye Institute and I had him order a filter cap for the Ocutech in NOIR color #07 2% dark amber. With this cap and the correct contacts, I can see the green lights really well.

Custom 2% dark amber filter cap

Next the filter that would have an opening for the bioptic scope but give me the red and allow no other light in. This was a challenge. I ordered red sheets that were the same as what Low Vision Center of Indiana made my red filters from but had the issue of how to get a perfect 1/2 inch circular hole lined up right for the scope. What I really wanted was NOIR FitOver sunglasses cut out so the Ocutech would slide right in. Again, how to do this? How would I cut polycarbonate to be just the right size. I had heard it could be done with a Dremel but that meant buying a Dremel, trying to find the right bad and trial and error to get the cut. I ordered the NOIRs in #93 4% red, #90 red, #465 yellow and #23 grey. I also ordered one of the less expensive colors for a trial cut. 

NOIR Fit Over

I really lucked out. I contacted my Computer Science Capstone sponsor at Arizona State University and asked if cutting these was something that the engineering department could possible do. It turns out I was able to get them cut on the CNC Milling Machine. The machine shop manager, Leonard Bucholz, offered to help me. I am so grateful for his time and expertise in

Arizona State University Machine Shop

trying to figure this out. He met with me on multiple occasion to get the cuts right. We are also discussing an option for something that would be like a gasket in between to ensure no light gets in.

I picked up my glasses Lenny did a great job. He worked to get the cut as small as possible to prevent light from getting in. I have a yellow pair for night and for day two different reds and a dark grey.

They work exactly as I had hoped. When I look the the sunglasses themselves, I can see brake lights, turn signals, yellow and red lights. When I look through the scope with the amber filter I can see the green lights. I can now tell if the light that is on is the green solid or the green arrow!

There is some light sneaking in between the Ocutech and the glasses so I am working on what I can put there to block that. It isn't horrible but does cause

NOIR Fitovers custom
cut for Ocutech VES-Sport

issues depending on where the sun is at the time. Overall I am extremely pleased with the set up and very grateful to Lenny form Arizona State for assisting me on this project. 

If you have any questions, I can be contacted at suzgermano@gmail.com