The moment a man breaks down in tears after he puts on a pair of glasses that let him see the world's colours for the first time has been caught on camera.

The 66-year-old from Florida looks puzzled as he unwraps a pair of EnChroma glasses on his birthday.

But he is overcome as soon as he puts on the high-tech specs, which filter colours typically muddled up by colourblind people.

HOW ENCHROMA GLASSES WORK Instead of adding colour, EnChroma glasses filter and separate muddled colours using a technique called chromatic contrast enhancement. People with colour blindness are unable to differentiate between two colours - usually red and green - so the lenses add a new dimension to their vision and allow them to see the colors separately. People report that their colour discrimination is faster and more accurate and that they are able to see more vibrant colours when wearing the glasses. They are also more likely to notice objects that are differentiated against a background based on colour (such as a flower against background of leaves), whereas without the lens those objects would be overlooked. Advertisement

The video was shot by the Carson Stafford on his father's birthday.

As his father unwraps the package, a family member can be heard saying: 'These are special glasses.

'When people wear them that are colourblind they can see colours just like we all see colours.'

The man puts the glasses on and immediately gasps and breaks down into tears.

'It's so clear I can't believe it,' he says.

A family member asks him to look at his cap, which appears bright blue to people with regular vision.

But the man looks at his hat in shock and says: 'Oh my god, it's not pink is it?'

Instead of adding colour, EnChroma glasses filter and separate muddled colours using a technique called chromatic contrast enhancement.

People with colour blindness are unable to differentiate between two colours - usually red and green - so the lenses add a new dimension to their vision and allow them to see the colors separately.

A colourblind man breaks down in tears after putting on a pair of glasses that allow him to see the world's colours for the first time

On his birthday, the man puts the glasses on and immediately gasps and says 'it's so clear I can't believe it'

Around one in 20 people in the US and UK suffer from colour blindness, a condition that can make the world a duller place.

The condition affects 1 in 200 women in the world and 1 in 12 men.

There are four kinds of colour blindness known as protanopia, dueteranopia, tritanopia and achromatopsia.

The retina of the eye has two types of light-sensitive cells: rods and cones.

A family member asks him to look at his cap, which appears bright blue to people with regular vision. But the man looks at his hat in shock and says: 'Oh my god, it's not pink is it?'

Instead of adding colour, EnChroma glasses filter and separate muddled colours, allowing the man to see the balloons at his birthday party for the first time in his life

COLOUR BLINDNESS Approximately one in 20 people suffer from colour blindness, a condition that makes the world a duller place to look at. According to the NHS, it affects 1 in 200 women in the world and 1 in 12 men. There are four kinds of colour blindness known as protanopia, dueteranopia, tritanopia and achromatopsia. The retina of the eye has two types of light-sensitive cells; rods and cones. Both are found the layer at the back of your eye which processes images. Rods work in low light conditions, but cones work in daylight and are responsible for colour. People who have colour blindness have a problem with the cones in their retina. Advertisement

Both are found the layer at the back of your eye which processes images.

Rods work in low light conditions, but cones work in daylight and are responsible for colour

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.

Meanwhile, people with colour blindness that affects the short-wavelength cone system have what's known as tritanopia.

This is the second 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.

Total colour blindness makes people see everything in black and white, and is a visual disorder that affects one in every 33,000 people.