I’ve always been amused with eye color and how some people eyes are so blue or dark brown etc. In biology you probably learned that it’s because of either having one dominant trait or two recessive traits from your parents. It actually turns out that there are dozen of genes that control eye color which leads to the question of how are there just blue, green, brown and hazel eyes. Your eye color is determined by two factors how much dark pigment you have in your iris and the actual structural make up of your iris. Therefore, if you have a lot of melanin (the dark pigment), your eyes will be dark brown or black. However, for blue eyes the story is completely different. There isn’t one pigment of blue in someone with blue eyes meanings there’s no melatonin in the front part of your iris. It’s just how light is scattered just like the sky isn’t actually blue, it just appears that way because of how light is scattered from the Sun.
Brown eyes are the most common eye color while blue and green are the least common with surprisingly only 2% of the population having them.
Another question that is asked quite often is how your eyes change color after birth. The answer to this is based on the same way you get your initial eye color. As your eyes develop your melatonin levels become more level, your eye color is going to change with them. Similarly, as your body goes through changes such as puberty or pregnancy, your eyes can also change color because of structural changes in the iris (which is the other factor of eye color).
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/03/26/1953782_how-do-genes-pick-eye-color.html?rh=1
http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask29
I love the topic you chose for your post. I’ve always been skeptical regarding the change in someone’s eye color. My sister once tried to convince me that her eye color lightened after she altered her diet to eat only raw foods. After she kept up the diet for a few months, I became convinced because I actually noticed a change and her eyes turned from a deep brown, to a light caramel shade.
Here’s a link to a girl whose eye color changed after she altered her diet as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSPU4fCfyzc&list=TLxnjrd0pgLi9oA4csTUo5wyqEuymo5QkR
I think your post is really interesting. I have brown eyes and I have always wanted to have green or blue eyes. I also did some research to know if it was possible to change the colors of your eyes and we can’t permanently alter the eye color naturally. But by drinking green tea or herbal drinks an change your diet, your eyes can become lighter. However you can’t change the color of your eyes from hazel to blue.
My cousin recently had a baby and right now his eyes are blue and she’s hoping they stay that way. Your post made me interested in how babies eye colors change and develop. I found an article that lays it out step by step, you should check it out! http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/eye-color.htm
In addition to this, I have noticed some people’s eye color change depending on the clothes that they are wearing. I never did any research on it until now and I found out that it may appear that their eye color has changed, but really it is all just an illusion. If we alter anything around our eyes such as hair color, clothing, or new glasses then it might seem as if your eye color has changed but in reality it did not. Our minds can play weird tricks with us like that. I find it interesting that it is just an illusion if it appears your eye color has changed due to clothing but it is possible for someone’s eye color to change due to puberty or pregnancy. Very interesting post! Here’s a link about eye color and clothing: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/20/health/20real.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0
I think this is interesting how eye color isn’t always about the color of your parents eyes. The color of your eye is determined by the iris and some babies are born with irises that do not match in color. This website goes in to more detail about that.