Researchers in Abu Dhabi’s  university were infusing contact lenses with gold nanoparticles to create a safer way to see colors.

In colour blindness, the most common kind is protanopia and deuteranopia — difficulty separating red and green colours.

For remedying color blindness people usually wear special glasses which have a tinted glass that enables them to see the specific colour that they can’t otherwise see but not only are these lenses really bulky, but they cannot be used for correcting other vision problems simultaneously.

However, now, researchers from Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa University have developed a novel lens infused with particles of gold. These lenses are non-toxic and this method of infusing gold in glass has been going on for centuries, in order to create cranberry glass as they scatter light in a different manner.

For developing the lens, the researchers infused gold nanoparticles in a hydrogel. This resulted in the production of a red-tinted gel that filters wavelengths of light between 520 and 580 nanometres — the section of the spectrum where red and green wavelengths overlap.

As per the researchers, the most effective contact lenses were made with 40-nanometre wide gold particles that neither got stuck together nor passed through more light than necessary.

Researchers have successfully completed their initial study and now they’re conducting clinical trials to understand how comfortable is the experience wearing these lenses.