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Ask Slashdot: How to Exploit Post-Cataract Ultraviolet Vision?
xmas2003 writes "I recently had cataract surgery with a Crystalens implant. With my cloudy yellowing (UV-filtering) natural lens removed, I see the world in a new light (more on that in a moment) as everything is brighter and colors are more vivid ... plus in focus.
As a typical Slashdot reader, I've been myopic since childhood, so it's wonderful not to have to wear glasses/contacts for distance. One interesting oddity is that I can now see ultraviolet light — it seems that there are a few people who have photoreceptors sensitive below 400nm into the UV spectrum. I've done some testing with a Black Light and UV filter to confirm this but would love to do more conclusive testing such as using a Monochromator — anyone in the Boulder, Colorado area have access to one? And any suggestions from Slashdot readers on how I can further explore this phenomenon? While I can't see dead people, I guess I have a 'superpower' ... although I'm not sure a middle-aged suburbanite dad should don purple tights and cape to become a crime-fighter!"
Back in WWII, when the medical treatment was much more primitive, elderly persons in England, who had vision partially restored by cataract surgery, were asked to watch for long wave UV covert signals, from off the coast vessels, as part of the war effort. This may be an urban legend -- it is unanswered on Snopes http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=25056, but I do recall reading about it as a child, I believe in a commentary written by Arthur C. Clarke. But the memory is vague, and who knows where Clarke might have learned of it. So as something vaguely remembered from a book half a century old, that may or may not exist, where the original author may or may not have had first hand knowledge, ... well, by Internet standards, that's your proof right there!
-- Perhaps I see less than some, but more than many.
Flowers are often more varied in the UV than in the standard visible light range.
Ultraviolator.
Though I guess that could be open to misinterpretation.
Ultragirl. I didn't even click the links yet, because I already know that only females are gifted with vision in or near the ultraviolet part of the spectrum.
although I'm not sure a middle-aged suburbanite dad should don purple tights and cape to become a crime-fighter!"
You need to take some remedial biology lessons, I think.
Isn't enough that I ruined a pony, making a gift for you?
UV is a very wide spectrum. Near-UV isn't too scary.
UV-A (400-315 nm) is OK for short-term exposure. Your pupils won't constrict like they do for visible light, so keep the intensity low. Plain old blacklights are 350-400nm with the peak at 365nm, plus a small peak in the very bottom of the visible spectrum (which is the purple glow).
UV-B (315-280 nm) will probably be invisible, and it will do bad things to your eyes, so please stick to very low intensities if you want to fool with this. Read up on the risks first.
UV-C (280-100 nm) is utterly hostile to biology - the upper atmosphere filters this range out so life never evolved mechanisms to deal with it. Actually, UV-C is hostile to damn near everything: just from my own experience, it bleaches everything, and most plastics will degrade and become brittle with mere hours of exposure. I've test-fired a 185nm lamp in the open for a few seconds (wearing goggles!) and even across the room you can instantly smell ozone forming as it starts ripping oxygen apart. Stay away!
Well, I can say that your assertion is flawed. I am a male. I can also see UV light with one eye. I had a congenital cataract (it was there from birth). When I was 19 (almost 20 years ago), the vision in one eye was 20/200 due to this. They cut the old lens out, and slid the new one in. At the time, we were advised to leave the bandage on for a week, so I did.
When I removed the bandage, I didn't see anything remarkable, other than I could see clearly. I also found that the lens was not easy to bend, so my focus in that eye has been fixed ever since.
Around Halloween time, I had my first experience under black lights. Well, it was more like extreme pain. The natural lens filters out the UV light. Being bathed in this bright UV light was roughly like looking straight into a very bright light.
Over the next 5 years or so, I became adjusted to being able to see UV. It's not a big deal. Sometimes I see the rough equivalent to visual feedback when looking at particular colors (blue, violet, and UV). Each eye is seeing a different color on the same object.
It's hard to explain what it looks like to most people though. A black light normally doesn't really look like anything. I see a bright blue light instead, only in one eye. Sometimes I close one eye, then alternate, so I can figure out what color the rest of you see. It's a very bright blue. Kind of like the difference between bottle of mustard, and a yellow caution sign. Well, except most of you would never have seen the yellow caution sign, so you won't have a frame of reference.
So is it the whole UV range? Hell if I know. Maybe. Maybe not. I've never been presented with a color wheel that covers UV colors to help determine the full range.
I always wear UV & polarized sunglasses when I'm outside. Light is really bright, especially in areas with a clear sky. Going from LA's smog to Florida's bright blue sky is like living in a house with 40W bulbs, and then replacing them all with 100W bulbs. Sunglasses are generally a good idea, but if I don't have them, I end up walking around with one eye open.
About 20 years later, I still see it. I was at a convention over the weekend, and they had blue backdrops behind the speakers, with black lights pointing at them. In one eye, it was a dull blue glow. In the other eye, it was a distracting bright blue light. So I watched most of the time with one eye open. :) It could have been worse. I would be blind in that eye by now.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.