Red Central Contact Lenses
 for
Achromatopsia and Cone Dystrophy

		An important new treatment for those with achromatopsia is the use of red central soft contact lenses. These contact lenses have a small red circle that when properly positioned looks like the pupil of the eye.
		Red Central Lenses are made from soft contact lenses a custom red filter is applied to the center of the lens.
		In normal light, they appear as dark circles looking just like the normal pupil of the eye.
		These red contact lenses not only reduce the light entering each eye, but allow primarily red light to enter the eye.
		Red light allows the remaining rods to function better, and in complete achromatopsia, where the patient sees no or minimal color, the patient is not aware of the red hue.
		These lenses work much the way submariners in World War II turned red lights inside the submarine on to allow their eyes to adapt for night or “rod” vision before surfacing at night.
		With the contact lenses in place, mild sunglasses may be worn outside and no filters are usually required inside. We find that patients are astounded by the dramatic improvement of their functioning in bright light.
		In the incomplete form of achromatopsia, patients report it enhances their ability to detect red stoplights and red brake lights.
		In patients with incomplete achromatopsia, these lenses may allow the patient to proceed to bioptic driving.
		Understanding Achromatopsia Laura K. Windsor, O.D. and Richard L. Windsor O.D. Vision Enhancement Magazine
		Click to view or download our Movie: Red Central Contact Lenses!  We recommend the larger files. If you have a slow connection consider right clicking on the movie name and select "save target as" and download to your disk.
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