Green, Blue, Amber Eyes… Can Eyes change color?

Eye color seems to play an important role in men and women’s physical aspects.  Having black, olive, or even yellow eyes could catch attention and be a center of attraction, which is why a lot of people have thought of changing their eye color more than once.

Why are eyes certain colors?

Eye color is actually dependent on genetic or hereditary factors, like all physical aspects.  Eye color is a hereditary trait, determined by the amount of melanin (pigment) and this distribution in the eye’s iris.  In order for all eyes to be the color that they are, a very complex process occurred in which genes took part for the final result.  

There are three elements that determine eye color: melanin in the epithelio of the iris, melanin in the anterior part of the iris, and the density of stroma in the iris.

There are two types of melanin that participate in this process:

• Eumelanin: has a dark brown look.
• Pheomelanin: yellow-red-brown look.

Within the entire gamma of pigments that color the eye (with the exception of abnormal conditions) epithelio iris pigmentation is always eumelanin, which is present in large amounts.  Color variation in eyes in caused primarily by pigment in the anterior part of the iris and to how much light the stroma absorbs, which is dependent on its density.

The genes that were most predominant in you are what determine how dark or light your eyes are, along with which ones were recessive when you were being made in your mother’s uterus. 

Light colors, which are responsible for green and blue eyes, are associated wit ha gene called EYCL1, which is a recessive gene to dark colors.

Dark colors, which are responsible for brown and black eyes, are associated with the gene called EYCL2, and is predominant over light eye genes.

The mixture of genes while the fetus develops in the mother’s womb determines the eye color that an individual will have their entire life.  The color is frequently determined by the dominant gene, which depends on which color is predominant in other family members’s eyes.  If, for example, dark eyes are predominant in your family, it is quite likely that you will have dark eyes, rather than light eyes. even though there is a possibility that you will have light, or even green or amber eyes, depending on the mixture of pigments.

Can eye color changes?

A lot of people would like to change their eye color in just the way they change their hair color.  The truth is, eye color cannot be changed, and it won’t be changed until some sort of substance or method exists that could change their color.  There is the exception, however, of colored contacts, which can temporarily change eye color.

You should know, however, that it’s not the color of the eye that makes them interesting, attractive, or deep.  It is the look that bathes a personality and the magic in the eyes.  Some eyes are very inexpressive or cold, while others go deep into the heart with the first look, regardless of color.

Colors are one way in which nature plays with diversity.  The most beautiful eyes aren’t any particular color, the most beautiful eyes are those that can paint a special color in the hearts of those they look upon.

As the song goes: “There’s an angel in your eye that only you know”.

Revised by: Dra. Loredana Lunadei on 10/29/2014

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