The "SXM: Indiana Benet & Heterochromia" Story

Sign along the street telling of the restaurant.

It was an ordinary day.  Having my photograph taken with a beautiful young girl by the name of Indiana.  Seems that a few days ago Carol and I walked into the newly reopened La Plantation Restaurant in the Orient Village section of St. Martin.  We were greeted by a young girl who as soon as I looked looked in her eyes I knew there was something different about her.  She, too, looked at me and couldn't take her eyes off of me.  "You have two different colored eyes!" she said to me.  I in turn said, "And you do also!"  Wow, talk about having something in common that few people in the world have in common.  We both have what is known as Heterochromia which is a difference in colorization in the eyes.  

French beauty Indiana and USA blogger LDub who both
have the same eye condition known as Heterochromia.
Click on photo to enlarge and hope you can see our eye color.

She had one brown eye and one blue eye while I have one eye that is both blue and brown while my other one is totally blue.  She has hetero- chromia iridium which is two different-colored eyes while I have heterchromia iridis which is a variety of colors within a single iris.  Both are relatively rare in humans and result from increased or decreased pigmentation of the iris.  Eye color is a manifestation of the pigment that is present in the iris.  Brown eyes are rich in melanin deposits while blue eyes indicate a lack of melanin.  Two genes control eye color: EYCL3, found on chromosome 15, which codes for brown/blue eye color (BEY) and EYCL1, found on chromosome 19, which codes for green/blue eye color (GEY).  How these genes interact to provide the full constellation of colors, such as hazel and gray, is as yet unknown.  There also could be other genes that may determine the pattern and placement of pigment in the iris, thereby accounting for solid brown as opposed to rays of color.  One way or another, we both have rather rare eye colorization which is what caused our eyes to meet and recognize immediately that we were different. My only problem is that I am old enough to be her grandfather!  My main reason in talking to her was to see if they were open for our evening meal.  She told me, "We are usually open at 6:00 pm for dinner, but tonight we will not be open until 7:00 pm.  I thanked her and promised to return another night so we could have a photo taken together.  That was two days ago and we are currently head to head so Carol can try and capture a photo of our eyes.  After the photo session I asked her name and she told me it was Indiana.  Rare name to go with her rare eyes.  Much more rare than Larry.  We enjoyed our meal and I gave her information about my blog so she could see the photograph and read about our eye colorization.  Over my lifetime I have never met another person who has Heterochromia until now, and as soon as I saw this young girl's eyes on the Caribbean island of St. Martin, I knew she was different.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.