Eye color is one of the most distinguishing human characteristics. Almost countless shades and hues of blue, green, brown, gray and hazel are found in eyes from around the globe. Eye diseases, medical conditions and other uncontrollable factors can permanently change a person’s eye color. Those with naturally light-colored eyes tend to be more susceptible to these changes.
How Eye Color Develops
The iris is the colored ring of muscle surrounding the pupil. The amount of pigmentation within the iris determines its color. Three genes are responsible for the color of your eyes. Scientists understand how genetic variations result in brown, green and blue eyes. However, they are still working to understand how a person develops less common colors, like hazel and gray.
Brown is a dominant pigment, and it usually wins out over green and blue. Because blue is the most recessive, green will also win out over blue. There are exceptions to this rule, of course, and a child with a brown-eyed parent and a green-eyed parent can have green eyes. Even two brown-eyed parents can produce a blue-eyed child, if the baby receives recessive blue-eyed genes from both parents. Additionally, a child’s eye color can change over the first three years of life.
Abnormal Eye Color Changes
Certain medical conditions have been shown to change eye color in some patients. These conditions include Fuch’s heterochromic uveitis, pigmentary glaucoma and Horner’s syndrome.
Fuch’s heterochromic uveitis causes inflammation in the front portion of only one eye. The inflammation can cause a color change in the affected eye’s iris, and the condition increases a patient’s risk of developing glaucoma and cataracts.
Pigmentary glaucoma is characterized by the collection of pigment granules at the back of the cornea, which disrupts the back of the iris. These same granules can also accumulate at the front side of the iris. When this occurs, color changes can result, and each eye can develop a different color.
Horner’s syndrome is a condition in which the third cranial nerve is not functioning properly. The affected eye can then become lighter than the other. This condition typically affects children less than one-year old, though it occasionally occurs in adults.
LASIK & Eye Color
The LASIK vision correction procedure does not affect eye color. The procedure shapes the cornea, which is clear and sits above the iris. A more complete description of LASIK describes exactly how LASIK works, plus its potential benefits and side effects.
Cosmetic Laser Eye Surgery
However, some doctors use a different laser — unrelated to LASIK — for the strict purpose of changing eye color. This laser operates on the theory that there is blue pigment in the eyes of all brown-eyed people. This laser destroys dark pigment in the iris to reveal the blue pigment. So far, this laser is only able to create blue eyes from brown eyes.
Latisse & Eye Color
The topical medication Latisse promises to increase the thickness and length of eyelashes. Patients use a special brush to apply it right above the lash line each night. One of the drug’s most talked-about side effects is its potential to darken some patients’ eye color. This is said to occur slowly and usually affects people with greenish-blue or hazel eyes. According to one doctor, the risk of this side effect is less than one percent, and it only happens when some of the medication gets into the eye.
Eye Color & Your Vision
Research indicates a very slight connection — if any — between eye color and visual acuity. For example, evidence suggests that the lighter the eye, the higher the risk of light sensitivity. Scientists theorize that light can more easily penetrate a pale-colored eye, similar to how light passes through sunglasses. The darker the sunglasses, the better they protect you from the sun. Lighter eyes may be more sensitive to and affected by sunlight, which increases the risk of macular degeneration. So far, these are the only ties between eye color and vision.
Eye Color & Your Diet
Some iridologists and alternative healers believe that darker eyes indicate a buildup of toxins in the body. They claim eyes become lighter as the toxins are flushed out, and the body becomes healthier. Therefore, a healthy person will have light gray or blue eyes. They generally recommend a raw food diet to remove the toxins. Cases have been reported where the color of the iris did change as a result of a raw food diet, but it is difficult for scientists to replicate these changes.
Medications & Eye Color
Some medications used to treat glaucoma — especially those know as prostaglandin analogs — can possibly alter eye color. These changes are more prevalent in patients with light blue and green eyes. Patients’ eyes may become darker, because these medications can increase pigment in the iris. Many people report that the color changes did not reverse after stopping the medication.
Whether your eyes are blue, green, brown, gray or hazel, unexpected changes in their appearance could be cause for concern. See your eye doctor right away if you experience any unusual symptoms.
FAQs
Can You Permanently Change Your Eye Color? The color of your eye can be permanently changed. It can be done by adding or extracting pigments or replacing the entire iris. Eye color change surgery is generally an elective procedure since the color of the iris has no effect on vision.
Is it possible to permanently change eye color? ›
Can You Permanently Change Your Eye Color? The color of your eye can be permanently changed. It can be done by adding or extracting pigments or replacing the entire iris. Eye color change surgery is generally an elective procedure since the color of the iris has no effect on vision.
Can your eyes completely change colour? ›
Minor Changes Are Common
For example, long-term sun exposure may cause your eyes to darken slightly, while a small percentage of Caucasian people's eyes lighten as they age. For the most part, though, your eye color will not actually change, and significant changes may be a sign of a larger problem.
What is the rarest eye color? ›
While the global data on eye colors is limited, red and violet eyes are likely the rarest eye colors since they only affect a small group of people with albinism. But if you exclude eye colors brought on by albinism, then green and gray are likely the rarest.
What are the risks of changing your eye color? ›
One study of a small sample of people showed that patients who underwent iris transplant surgery experienced some sort of complication, such as inflammation in the eyes, corneal swelling, corneal injury, cataracts, glaucoma or partial or complete blindness.
Can brown eyes turn green? ›
If the color of one or both eyes changes suddenly and significantly, see an eye doctor as soon as possible. It is particularly dangerous for eyes to change from brown to green, or from blue to brown. Major changes in the iris' pigment can indicate illness, such as: Horner's syndrome.
Which eye color is most attractive? ›
One thing these survey results have in common is that light-colored eyes — green, gray, blue, and hazel — are named as the most attractive eye colors in the world. In one large survey of more than 66,000 people, green was chosen as the most attractive eye color. Green is also among the rarest eye colors.
Why did my blue eyes turn green? ›
"The factors that can cause eyes to change colors—or appear to have different colors—include genes, diseases, medications and trauma," said Omar Chaudhary, MD, an ophthalmologist in Potomac, Md.
Do eye color changing drops really work? ›
As for eye drops claiming they can permanently lighten your eye color, she says there's no evidence those will be effective. “You're actually stopping melanin from being produced, and that's really difficult to do, when you're talking about something penetrating into the eye to make a difference,” Cobin-Simon said.
Can emotional trauma change eye color? ›
Your mood and your body's natural reaction isn't actually changing the color of your eyes. This situation is more of a mental mind trick. The effect can still be very interesting. The size of your pupil can also be changed due to stroke, brain damage, or trauma according to the AAO.
Red and violet
Although the deep blue eyes of some people such as Elizabeth Taylor can appear purple or violet at certain times, "true" violet-colored eyes occur only due to albinism. Eyes that appear red or violet under certain conditions due to albinism are less than 1 percent of the world's population.
Do red eyes exist? ›
Of the less common eye colors, pink and red eyes are considered to be the most unique in the world, giving new meaning to the word “rare.” Only one in every 20,000 people have a form of albinism, according to the National Institutes of Health, and even fewer have red-tinted eyes.
What is the rarest hair and eye color combination? ›
According to an article by evolutionary biology professor Mark Elgar, PhD, of the University of Melbourne, blue-eyed redheads are the absolute rarest, with 0.17% of the population having that combination of hair and eye color. So if that describes you, you're most likely one in a million—or more!
Is it legal to change your eye color? ›
Eye color change procedures, none of which are FDA-approved, carry with them risks that include severe light sensitivity, glaucoma, cataracts, corneal disease, vision loss and blindness. Side effects may manifest shortly after a procedure or take years to develop.
Can you naturally change your eye color? ›
“If you're wearing a certain tone color in your shirt, it may bring out more of the blue or green in your eyes and make the color seem different,” explains Dr. Bajic. “But your eyes aren't actually changing, of course. It's just an optical illusion.”
Are color changing eye drops FDA approved? ›
Silver sulfate or argentum, which can permanently change the white color of your eyes. Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) as an active ingredient. These products are unapproved drugs and illegally marketed in the U.S. There are no legally marketed ophthalmic drugs that contain MSM as an active ingredient.
How much does it cost to permanently change your eye color? ›
Alexander Movshovich, KERATO is the first keratopigmentation practice in the U.S. that uses special lasers to insert pigments inside a healthy cornea to cover the eye's natural color, which lies in the iris. The procedure costs $12,000 and is not covered by insurance. Yet the risks and cost doesn't deter some people.
Are color changing eye drops safe? ›
Your MSM, color changing, and eye lightening eye drop products are not generally recognized as safe and effective (GRASE) for their above-referenced uses and, therefore, these products are “new drugs” under section 201(p) of the FD&C Act, 21 U.S.C. 321(p).
Can you get blue eyes naturally? ›
No. It's common for babies to have blue eyes at birth, but it's not universal. In fact, one study from 2016 found only about 20% of babies have blue eyes at birth.
Why are green eyes so rare? ›
Green eyes are the most rare eye color in the world. Only about 2 percent of people in the world have naturally green eyes. Green eyes are a genetic mutation that results in low levels of melanin, though more melanin than in blue eyes. Green eyes don't actually have any color.
