Machine to fix spectrum of problems

John Mellsop with his Intuitive Colorimeter. Photo/Stuart Munro

Wanganui optometrist John Mellsop has a machine that looks like an over-sized computer hard drive until he switches it on and the screen inside lights up.

The machine is an Intuitive Colorimeter and is used to assess which colour lenses will best suit a patient.

Mr Mellsop's patients are not after cool-looking eyewear: they want to be able to read better and they have a condition known as Meares-Irlen Syndrome or MI.

People with MI have difficulty reading text on a white page and have varying degrees of visual distortions when they try to decipher the script.

"The condition is not picked up with regular eye tests like the ones they do in schools," says Mr Mellsop.

"Those tests will diagnose short-sightedness and other visual anomalies but MI is a visual processing problem that causes reading difficulties.

"I generally see one or two children with MI each month and sometimes teachers refer them because they have noticed the child is struggling with reading.

Mr Mellsop wants schools to know he is available and able to test and prescribe the right lenses.

It is thought that the distortions associated with Meares-Irlen Syndrome are caused when some cells in the part of the brain that processes visual information work too fast and do not respond in the way that they should.

An Auckland teacher, Olive Meares, was the first to provide a detailed written account of the spatial distortions affecting the ability to read in 1980.

Olive Meares also reported that the effects could be reduced or eliminated by the use of coloured paper or by using coloured plastic overlays.

A short while later, American psychologist Helen Irlen, wrote a paper describing symptoms similar to those Olive Meares had observed.

Ms Irlen described the condition as Scotopic Sensitivity and established a method for screening and a system for dispensing coloured overlays as a result of the assessment.

Scientists working at Essex University in England developed the Colorimeter machine and another Wanganui optometrist, Mike Webber bought one of the first machines home from England in 1995 - the same machine Mr Mellsop uses today.

The instrument independently changes colour, saturation, and brightness while the eyes are colour adapted and will give a final colour that is precise to each individuals needs.

The colour will be different for each person and there are over 100,000 colour combinations available.

Research has shown that Meares-Irlen Syndrome is more common in individuals with dyslexia although not everyone with dyslexia has MI and people who do not have dyslexia can also have MI.

Symptoms can include eye strain, headaches,words moving on page or jumping off the page and blobs of colour appearing on white page and slow and hesitant reading.

John Mellsop is at Visique Optometrists on Wicksteed St and Work and Income assistance for the cost of testing and prescription is available for those who qualify.