Inverse-Designed Aid Lenses for Precise Correction of Color Vision Deficiency

Abstract

Color vision deficiency (CVD) is a common ocular disorder affecting more than 300 million people on the earth. Although no clinical cure for the disorder currently exists, some specialized color filtering glasses/lenses based on dyes, metasurfaces, or nanocomposites have been employed for CVD management. However, as CVD patients usually diversify in their classification and severity, none of the current lenses provides a customized correction for various CVD patients, resulting in undesirable correction effects. Here, we present an inverse-designed approach for the precise correction of CVD. The wavelength shift of a patient’s abnormal cone photoreceptors was measured to inversely design the best blocking wavelength and blocking rate of the lens. Then the customized aid lenses were fabricated using silica-coated gold nanoparticles with appropriate sizes and concentrations, verified by the simulated color vision and human tests. This study demonstrates the potential of the inverse-designed aid lenses in precise color filtering and customized CVD management.

Plasmonic Eyeglasses Based on Gold Nanoparticles for Color Vision Deficiency Management

“…As mentioned above, the improvement in the color perception of color blind people was evaluated using the Ishihara test after the use of lenses and glasses based on the filtering mechanism. In conclusion, the color filtering mechanism cannot provide normal color vision for CVD people, but it can truly enhance one’s ability to distinguish colors, which has been experimentally confirmed and widely accepted by industries and researchers. − ,,, …”

“…Recently, plasmonic nanostructures have attracted much attention for color blindness management instead of chemical dyes because of their excellent properties and the tunability of plasmonic resonances. Plasmonic nanoparticles such as gold and silver nanoparticles (NPs) have excellent optical properties and thus have been utilized in many applications in fields including biology, − drug delivery, − biosensing, − and biomedical imaging. − Most recently, contact lenses based on gold ,,− and silver NPs were investigated for red–green and blue–yellow CVD, respectively. The function of these proposed contact lenses is based on the tunable localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), and the plasmonic NPs incorporated into the lenses provide a tunable color filter to improve the different types of CVD.…”

“…Also, the first pair of tinted glasses was introduced by Maxwell in 1857, 18 consisting of green and red lenses, and CVD people were able to distinguish between colors that were not previously recognizable. Until now, many contact lenses and tinted glasses based on color filters have been widely investigated and are even commercially available [10][11][12]14,19,20 for color blindness management. In addition, the Ishihara test, which is the most common and available color blindness test, was performed to confirm that color filters help to color blind people.…”

“…In conclusion, the color filtering mechanism cannot provide normal color vision for CVD people, but it can truly enhance one's ability to distinguish colors, which has been experimentally confirmed and widely accepted by industries and researchers. [10][11][12][13][14]19,20,23 Recently, plasmonic nanostructures have attracted much attention for color blindness management instead of chemical dyes because of their excellent properties and the tunability of plasmonic resonances. Plasmonic nanoparticles such as gold and silver nanoparticles (NPs) have excellent optical properties and thus have been utilized in many applications in fields including biology, 24−26 drug delivery, 27−31 biosensing, 32−34 and biomedical imaging.…”

“…Until now, many contact lenses and tinted glasses based on color filters have been widely investigated and are even commercially available − ,,, for color blindness management. In addition, the Ishihara test, which is the most common and available color blindness test, was performed to confirm that color filters help to color blind people.…”