A colour-blind man was given a special present from his wife on their wedding day – the chance to see colour for the first time.
Blaire Ahlers, 24, gifted husband Griffin, from North Carolina, a pair of Enchroma glasses which allowed him see everything in technicolour.
She recorded the moment Griffin opened the gift, which saw him immediately burst into tears after putting the glasses on.
Griffin said his ‘whole life changed’ after Blaire’s gift allowed him to see colours for the first time.
Enchroma glasses help those who are colourblind to see properly, and usually cost from around $300 (£224).
Overwhelmed: Colourblind Griffin Ahlers, 24, broke down into tears after being given a pair of Enchroma glasses
Griffin said even though getting married was the best thing that ever happened to him, it was getting the glasses that actually changed his life.
Griffin, also 24, said: ‘I put them on and truth be known my whole life changed.
‘I could see colour I hadn’t before, everything was brighter and more vibrant than I had ever seen.’
After putting the glasses on he stepped outside and immediately saw an improvement.
Special gift: Blaire Ahlers, also 24, gave her new husband the glasses on their wedding day
Seeing clearly: Griffin looked emotional as he stepped outside and saw different colours for the first time
He continued: ‘I walked outside to see the difference and that is when I really couldn’t control my emotions.
‘Right when I walked outside and saw the colours I couldn’t help but cry.
‘It was like looking at a bad TV from the 90s to looking at a brand new 4K TV.’
In the video Griffin could be seen walking around the house taking the glasses off and putting them back on again as if to compare the difference.
When he finally went outside and stood on his porch he had to stand with his hands on his knees after becoming overwhelmed.
‘I didn’t realise how blind I was. Wow, these are awesome,’ he said.
Colour blindness is a condition where people are unable to fully ‘see’ certain colours on the light spectrum.
The condition is generally genetic and inherited from one’s mother, although it has been known to affect people as they grow older and age.
In Britain colour blindness affects 2.7 million people, mostly male, or 4.5 per cent of the population.
Emotional: Griffin said his ‘whole life changed’ after receiving his new wife’s special present
Colour blindness is a condition where people are unable to fully ‘see’ certain colours on the light spectrum
There are three kinds of colour blindness known as protanopia, dueteranopia and tritanopia.
People with protanopia lack the long-wavelength sensitive retinal cones needed to recognise and distinguish between colours in the green, yellow and red spectrum.
It affects between 1 per cent and 5 per cent of males and approximately 0.1 per cent of females.
Dueteranopia affects the same part of the spectrum, but sufferers lack medium-wavelength retinal cones meaning the differences can be more pronounced.
New lease of life: Griffin compared it to ‘ooking at a bad TV from the 90s to looking at a brand new 4K TV’
It is experienced by a similar number of people to protanopia.
Meanwhile, people with colour blindness that affects the short-wavelength cone system have what’s known as tritanopia.
This is the rarest kind – affecting 0.003 per cent of males and females – and tritanopes confuse light blues with greys, purples with black, mid-greens with blues and oranges with reds.
The effects of colour vision deficiency can be classified as mild, moderate or severe.
Figures from Colour Blindness Awareness suggest approximately 40 per cent of colourblind pupils leaving secondary school are unaware they are colourblind, while 60 per cent of sufferers experience many problems in everyday life.
What are Enchroma glasses?
Enchroma glasses, pictured, help people who are colorblind to distinguish different shades
The Enchroma system, called Digital Color Boost, works using a series of precise ‘cutouts’ along the spectrum of light.
By removing the wavelengths of light between the primary colours, Digital Color Boost amplifies the color signal sent to the brain.
For wearers, colours appear brighter and more saturated.
People report that their color discrimination is faster and more accurate, they are able to see more vibrant colours.
They are more likely to notice objects that are differentiated against a background based on color (such as a flower against background of leaves), whereas without the lens those objects would have been overlooked.
When people with normal color vision wear the Enchroma Cx glasses, they see a ‘boost’ effect and colours appear to ‘pop’ with a super-ordinary vibrance.