Man sees colors for the first time in 24 years, breaks down in tears

Joseph Romeo was about seven years old when he last saw colors. Ever since, his world appeared only in varying shades of gray.

Until Monday, when his wife surprised him with a pair of EnChroma glasses. In an instant, his world went from the color of steel to all the colors of the rainbow.

Read: A color blind man is left speechless when special glasses let him see sunset

"I could not believe my eyes," Romeo, 31, told INSIDE EDITION Tuesday. "I must have stared at the sky for at least 10 minutes, just looking at all the blue."

Brittany Romeo, 29, bought the $400 glasses for her husband because he needs to see colors for a new program at his designing firm. He designs and drafts artificial barriers to protect shorelines from erosion.

Read: See what happens when this guy pretended to be blind

She first heard about the glasses for color blind people about three years ago. But they were very expensive.

Prices have dropped from about $700 to about $400, and Brittany decided the time to get them was now, especially since Joseph needs to see colors to keep on working.

She surprised him Monday by taking him for a ride and then pulling out a box containing the glasses.

He put them on, saw the blue sky and his wife's blue shirt and broke down.

"I can see colors," he said as his wife recorded the moment on a cell phone video.