Man cured color blindness head injury

A  man who says he’s been colorblind his whole life claims he can now see more colors than ever following a fall where he hit his head.

"As a 70 year old man I fall quite a lot, as a matter of fact, cause my legs are not strong," Richard Riggs, a violinist and music teacher for the past 45 years, told CBS affiliate KIMA in Yakima, Wash. "I've been colorblind since I was born, and at age 70 I see colors of the rainbow now.”

Most color vision troubles are caused by genetic mutations and present at birth, WebMD notes, and those cases that are inherited cannot be treated or corrected.

Since Riggs’ recent fall, he claims he can spot shades of pinks and pastels, and can’t wait to use his newly found senses on an upcoming trip to Hawaii to look at flowers -- and bikinis.

But can a blow to the head be responsible for reversing an incurable genetic condition?

“This is very implausible,” Dr. Scott Brodie, a professor of ophthalmology specializing in medical retina and clinical electrophysiology at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, told CBS News.

A more common situation tends to be the opposite of Riggs' -- when a person with normal vision has a brain injury and loses their ability to recognize some colors because of damaged cone cells.

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