- Halie Dorsa, a nursing student at Becker College, went viral on TikTok after posting a video of her boyfriend, Justin Skapczynski, seeing in full color for the first time.
- In the clip, the 20-year-old presents Skapczynski with special colorblind glasses as a gift for their one-year anniversary. Upon realizing he can see vibrant colors, Skapczynski proceeds to look at everything around him.
- After the video went viral, Dorsa uploaded two follow-up posts of Skapczynsk experiencing new colors.
- The videos have racked up nearly 5 million likes on TikTok, and commenters are calling them “adorable” and “the purest thing” online.
- While Dorsa says she never expected the videos to go viral – and Skypcyznki doesn’t even have social media – the two are happy that their special moment is resonating with a wider audience.
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Halie Dorsa, known to her nearly 185,000 followers on TikTok as @hallliieee_, has uploaded only three videos to the platform. Those three posts, however, have racked up 4.7 million likes in under a week. The 20-year-old nursing student went viral after posting a video in which she gave her boyfriend, Justin Skapczynski, a special present.
To celebrate their one-year anniversary, Dorsa gifted Skapczynski, who is red-green colorblind due to a condition called deuteranopia, special frames from ColorTech Glasses that would allow him to see in full color.
“Helping my boyfriend see color for the first time,” Dorsa captioned the video, which has been viewed over 20 million times.
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@hallliieeee_ helping my boyfriend see color for the first time p ##colorblind ##boyfriend ##foryou ##foryoupage ##fyp
In the clip, she hands her boyfriend gift-wrapped Aviator glasses. Assuming the gift is just a pair of sunglasses, he reluctantly tries them on. Then he realizes something is different.
"Whoa, they have a really cool tint to them, it's like, pink and red and - I'm colorblind, so I wouldn't really know," he says.
"But how to the colors look?" Dorsa presses.
"They're not colorblind glasses, are they? No way!" he replies. "This is what actual color is like? No way!"
Seeing in color came with several new revelations: "Oh my God, my pants are bright," he says at the end of the video.
The experience of seeing in full color is hard to describe, Skapczynski told Insider. "Realizing what real color looks like was overwhelming and I instantly found the urge to look at everything," he explained. "I can only sum it up as wanting to re-experience what everything looks like."
The video struck a chord with viewers; it received 18,000 comments, many calling the moment "adorable."
"This is so wholesome," one comment (that has received 14,000 likes) reads. "This is good. This is quality content, I'm here for it."
"This is the purest TikTok," one commenter wrote.
"He's about to leave you and run off into the forest to discover all the colors," another joked.
Dorsa told Insider that she didn't plan on uploading the video to TikTok; initially, she just wanted to send the video to their families to share in an "amazing moment." But her mother insisted that the video would go viral, so she posted it to the app.
Skapcyznski doesn't even have social media, but Dorsa sends him some of the comments to read, and he thinks that going viral has been "incredible."
"I'm glad we can bring happiness into people's day like that," he said.
After receiving positive feedback, Dorsa decided to post a few follow-up videos.
In a second video, she films Skapcyznski walking around and taking in his new, vibrant surroundings.
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@hallliieeee_ heres part 2 of my boyfriend trying on colorblind glasses forthe first time p ##colorblind ##reaction ##boyfriend ##foryou ##fyp##foryoupage
"This is so much different," he says in awe, looking at his red sweatpants. "Are they really that bright? They're so MUTED without these. My style is so weird now."
The video has since been viewers over 500,000 times.
In a third video features Skapcyznsk driving around and taking in his new world.
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@hallliieeee_ thank you for all the love on my videos • yall asked so heresthe final part!! ##reaction ##boyfriend ##colorblind ##foryou ##fyp##foryoupage
Among his many new revelations is the brightness of the CITGO gas station logo.
"I've been living such a f------ dull life," he says in the clip. "Oh my God."
Commenters continued to be charmed by his enthusiastic reaction to color.
"This is the cutest thing ever, I'm melting," one commenter wrote.
While the viral fame is exciting, and Dorsa says she hopes the two will film more TikTok videos in the future, she's more focused on her anniversary gift being such a success.
"I loved his reaction and seeing how happy he was," she said. "He's the best person I know and I just wanted to do something special for him."