One of the most common identifying factors of a person is their eye color. Here is what you should know about eye color.
We all know that eye color is genetic, depending on the genes we inherit from our parents. We used to think that brown eyes were “dominant” and blue eyes were “recessive,” but modern science has shown that eye color is not at all that simple. Human eye color originates with three genes, but there may be as many as 50 genes that have influence over eye color. Most people in the world have brown eyes, with the second most common colors being blue and grey. Green is the rarest color.
The color of your eyes depends on how much of the pigment melanin you have in your iris. The more pigment you have, the darker your eyes will be. Blue, grey, and green eyes are lighter because there is less melanin in the iris. Most Caucasian babies are born with blue eyes because melanin is not present at birth, but develops with age. However, by the age of three their eye color is determined.
A contributing factor is also your stroma, the front layer of the iris that contains fibers that scatter the light that is reflected outward. This helps to account for why you your eyes might appear to change color or intensify depending on what color you are wearing, amplifying the scattered light reflecting back.
Some children are born with eyes that are not the same color. This can be caused by faulty developmental pigment transport, trauma either in the womb or shortly after birth or a benign genetic disorder. However, because there could be a small chance of it indicating eye disease, such as Horner’s syndrome, it is suggested you have an early eye exam to make sure nothing serious is going on.
Contrary to popular opinion, your eyes do not change color based on your emotions. The iris is a muscle that expands and contracts to control the size of your pupil. It gets bigger in dim lighting and gets smaller in bright lighting. It also shrinks when you are focusing on close tasks, such as reading a book. Certain emotions can also change the pupil size, such as anger, grief or happiness. This can cause the pigments in the iris compress or spread apart, slightly changing the appearance of your eye color. Also because the pupil is black, your eyes appear darker. There are times when your eye color might darken slightly, such as puberty, pregnancy, and aging for 10%-15% of Caucasians with light-colored eyes.
Besides giving our eyes color, melanin helps to protect them from the sun. Because they have less pigment, light eyes are much more sensitive to harmful UV rays from the sun and electronic devices than brown or black eyes. This makes UV protection even more important for babies and people with light-colored eyes.
Finally, because some people believe that the eyes are the windows to the soul, there are some superstitions about eye color. People with blue eyes are thought to have rich imaginations, people with green eyes have sharp minds, hazel eyes indicate a passionate soul and people with brown eyes are calm, but have underlying passion. What does your eye color say about you?
3/17/16
Susan DeRemer, CFRE
Vice President of Development
Discovery Eye Foundation
What You Should Know About Eye Color
FAQs
The more pigment you have, the darker your eyes will be. Blue, grey, and green eyes are lighter because there is less melanin in the iris. Most Caucasian babies are born with blue eyes because melanin is not present at birth, but develops with age. However, by the age of three their eye color is determined.
What is the most attractive eye colour survey? ›
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.
What eye color is the rarest? ›
The rarest eye color is green, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Only two percent of the global population has green eyes.
What is the most trusting eye color? ›
We tested whether eye color influences perception of trustworthiness. Facial photographs of 40 female and 40 male students were rated for perceived trustworthiness. Eye color had a significant effect, the brown-eyed faces being perceived as more trustworthy than the blue-eyed ones.
Which parent determines eye color? ›
A child's eye color depends on the pairing of genes passed on from each parent, which is thought to involve at least three gene pairs. The two main gene pairs geneticists have focused on are EYCL1 (also called the gey gene) and EYCL3 (also called the bey2 gene).
What are the top 3 most attractive eye colors? ›
Instead, gray eyes topped the chart with an average rating of 7.4, followed by blue and green eyes each scoring an average of 7.3. When broken down by gender, men ranked gray, blue, and green eyes as the most attractive, while women said they were most attracted to green, hazel, and gray eyes.
What is the least attractive eye color? ›
In a website poll of over 66,000 respondents, 20% said green was the most attractive, followed by hazel and light blue at 16%. Brown was far and away voted the least attractive (6%). But don't take it personally, brown-eyed people; you can always opt for colored contact lenses, just like they do in the movies.
Do purple eyes exist? ›
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.
What is the rarest hair and eye color combination? ›
Highlights: Hair And Eye Color Combination Statistics
The rarest hair and eye color combination is red hair with blue eyes, occurring in less than 1% of the global population. The most common hair color in the world is black, with over 75% of the global population having this hair color.
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.
Because of this, blue eyes are reflective of youth and fertility. Blue eyes also represent innocence and carefree.
Which parent determines height? ›
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, people may wish to try the following formula for predicting how tall a child will be: Measure the height of both biological parents. For male children, add 5 inches (in) to the father's height, add the mother's height, then divide by 2.
Where do hazel eyes come from? ›
Anyone can be born with hazel eyes, but it's most common in people of Brazilian, Middle Eastern, North African, or Spanish descent. When eyes are hazel, they are brown mixed with amber and green. In some cases, there are shades of gray, blue, and gold within the iris too. Brown eyes may also have some green in them.
Can vitamin A change eye color? ›
The color of your eyes is determined by genetics and cannot be changed. It is possible that some vitamins and nutrients may have an effect on the overall health of your eyes, but they will not alter the color of your irises.
What is the most attractive color? ›
Studies reveal that red is the most attractive colour to both men and women but, curiously, the two genders are attracted to the same colour for different reasons.
What's the prettiest eye shape? ›
According to a 2024 poll by StrawPoll, almond eyes received over twice as many votes as the most attractive eye shape than the runner up, round eyes. If you're trying to figure out your eye shape, determine whether you can see the whites above and below your irises. If you can't, you probably have almond eyes.
Why are brown eyes so attractive? ›
These researchers posit that the rounder and softer features of brown-eyed individuals make their faces appear more babylike and, thus, more innocent or trustworthy. Tangentially, the researchers suggest that the sometimes longer and more angular features of people with blue eyes strip them of this quality.
Does eye color determine attractiveness? ›
Eye colour however, does not seem to make any difference in the perceived attractiveness as it depends more on the individual preference of the beholder [10] . Overall, attractiveness is still a difficult concept to explain as it is influenced by many factors such as genes and environment. ...
Susan DeRemer, CFRE