Case report: Magic mushrooms may induce lasting improvements in color-blind vision
Case report: Magic mushrooms may induce lasting improvements in color-blind vision
“Researchers at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Center for Behavioral Health, Neurological Institute at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio have authored a case report on the positive effects of psilocybin on color blindness.
Published in the journal Drug Science, Policy and Law, the researchers highlight some implications surrounding a single reported vision improvement self-study by a colleague and cite other previous reports, illustrating a need to understand better how these psychedelics could be used in therapeutic settings.
Published in the journal Drug Science, Policy and Law, the researchers highlight some implications surrounding a single reported vision improvement self-study by a colleague and cite other previous reports, illustrating a need to understand better how these psychedelics could be used in therapeutic settings.
Past reports have indicated that people with color vision deficiency (CVD), usually referred to as color blindness, experience better color vision after using lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or psilocybin (magic mushrooms). There is a lack of scientific evidence for these claims, as researching the effects of these drugs has been highly restricted.
Color vision depends on a cluster of three types of photoreceptors known as cones—red, green, and blue sensing retinal photoreceptors with light-sensitive pigments. If one or more of these pigments is missing, the result is color blindness. Red-green CVD, which results in difficulties distinguishing between red and green, is typically an inherited condition caused by X chromosome-linked recessive mutations in genes coding for components of cones. It is the most common type of CVD, occurring in 8% of men and 0.5% of women.
People with color blindness can only perceive around 10% of hues and color variations compared with normal color vision, with some forms having no ability to distinguish red and green.
Life with color blindness can be difficult; aside from making the occasional wardrobe color mistakes, it can make maps and infographics indecipherable, disguise the ripeness of fruits or freshness of meat in the fridge, and can restrict career choices where color sight is an advantage or required, such as airline pilot, graphic artist and textile and paint-related jobs.”
Click here to view original web page at medicalxpress.com
