Here's how those viral color blind glasses really work

Some people see the world differently. Literally. It's a phenomenon called color blindness. It's not just people who can' see color at all. Some people just can't see as many colors as the rest of us. Now, these glasses are working on changing that.

These glasses bring more color to the color blind by helping them see more hues and differentiate colors.

You have seen the viral reactions of people trying them.

But how do they work?

These glasses are made by EnChroma. They are intended to enhance the vibrancy and saturation of colors. They also help with depth and detail perception. The glasses work for four out of five people with red-green color blindness.

Here's how people with color blindness see the world.

Those that are non-color blind see about 1 million to 7 million different color hues. Those with color blindness see only about 10,000 to 100,000 different hues.

A vastly diminished color spectrum.

Here's how the glasses can help.

Most people have three color cones in their eyes. Blue, green, and red. The ratio of light for each incoming color is then sent to your brain. This ratio tells your brain what color you should perceive. But with color blindness, the red and green cones overlap more noticeably. This skews the ratio of light and color signals, so your brain struggles to interpret anything with red and green in it.

EnChroma glasses have optical filters, which remove certain wavelengths of light. This helps establish a more accurate ratio of light entering the eye. So you perceive that color more clearly.

The glasses do not work for everyone and they don't completely correct the skewed ratio that the color blind see.

They do help make the world more vibrant. One pair at a time.