Color Discrimination and Chromacity Shifts Associated with 02AMP Lenses

Background: The Oxy-Iso lenses (produced by the O2AMPTM company) are currently
marketed as a “treatment” for red-green color deficiency. It is postulated to enhance the
transmission of those visible wavelengths that are poorly discriminated by individuals
with Deutan and Protan color defects. Intuitively, such a design principle predicts the
emergence of a blue-yellow color defect with perhaps a shift of the chromaticity coordinates
of confusable colors away from the Deutan and Protan confusion axes. This
study measured the shift in the chromaticity co-ordinates of color caps comprising the D-
15 and FM-100 hue arrangement tests caused by the Oxy-Iso lenses. Methods: The
chromaticity co-ordinates of the hue caps comprising the D-15 and FM-100 arrangement
tests were measured with and without Oxy-Iso lenses using the Minolta CS-100A
chromometer. All tests were conducted under standard lighting approximating the
Illuminant C light source. Chromaticity coordinates for each cap were plotted on the CIExy
chromaticity diagram. Ellipses were fit to the resulting hue contours to extract
geometric indices that characterized the shifts of the hue contours of the D-15 and FM-
100 with and without the lenses. Results: The chromaticity co-ordinates for the D-15 and
FM-100 that were plotted on the CIE-chromaticity diagram showed a shift toward the
Deutan co-punctal point when comparing measurements first without and then with the
Oxy-Iso lenses. In addition, greater discrimination along the Deutan axis was observed.
Conclusions: The results of the testing suggest that Deutan defectives would derive the
most benefit from the Oxy-Iso filter. Testing in this study with a color anomalous
individual agreed with the obtained results. Additional testing with color anomalous
individuals should be conducted to further confirm these effects in a real-world setting.