EnChroma glasses
Also called color-blind glasses, notch-filter glasses
EnChroma glasses are tinted spectacles sold to people with red-green color vision deficiency. Their lenses absorb several narrow bands of the spectrum, called notches, instead of dimming all colors evenly.1,2
The maker's rationale is that the long- and medium-wavelength cone sensitivities overlap more than normal in red-green deficiency, so removing light from the overlap should make the two cone signals differ more.3 The glasses do change how colors look, but they do not give the wearer normal color vision.4
EnChroma glasses do not correct color vision deficiency. In 86 people with red-green deficiency, scores on two clinical tests showed no overall improvement, because discrimination improved for some colors and worsened for others.2 Wearing the glasses can also shift scores on pseudoisochromatic plates and change the apparent type of the defect, so color vision should be tested without them.5
More detail
In 51 people whose cone genes were sequenced, EnChroma glasses produced a statistically significant change on a color assessment test, but only the competing VINO glasses produced a change large enough to count as functionally meaningful.1
These glasses are regulated as low-risk devices, so their marketing is not held to strict regulation.1
Sources (5)
- Patterson EJ, Mastey RR, Kuchenbecker JA, et al. Effects of color-enhancing glasses on color vision in congenital red-green color deficiencies. Opt Express. 2022;30(17):31182-31194.
- Pattie C, Aston S, Jordan G. Do EnChroma glasses improve performance on clinical tests for red-green color deficiencies? Opt Express. 2022;30(18):31872-31888.
- EnChroma. Technology.
- Gómez-Robledo L, Valero EM, Huertas R, et al. Do EnChroma glasses improve color vision for colorblind subjects? Opt Express. 2018;26(22):28693-28703.
- Bastien K, Mallet D, Saint-Amour D. Characterizing the effects of EnChroma glasses on color discrimination. Optom Vis Sci. 2020;97(10):903-910.
Reviewed October 2026
Through the lens
This EnChroma lens (Cx-65, since replaced by the comparable Cx-1) passes about 52% of visible light. Curve: EnChroma Cx-65, measured and digitized from a published figure (Patterson 2022).
Simulated from the lens’s transmission curve.