The "So What Color Are Your Eyes?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading once more about coloration in one's eyes.  If you have blue eye coloring...what does that mean?  If you have brown eye coloring...what does that mean?  What if you have hazel eye coloring?  Well, there are a few other choices, but in short, eye color is determined by melanin which produces hair, eye and skin pigmentation.  I have written stories in the past telling you that I have one green eye and one eye that is half green and half orange.  I've met less that a half dozen other people throughout my travels, both male and female, that have eyes that are two different colors.  Seems that the most common eye color around the world is brown with 79% of the world population having brown eyes.  Eye coloring is an inherited trait that dates back to our early ancestors.  About 10,000 years ago every human on this planet had brown eyes.  Blue eyes are the next most popular eye color, but they are a more recent evolutionary occurrence.   About 27% of Americans have blue eyes according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. (AAO).  This is likely due to immigration from Germany, Scandinavia, Ireland and Eastern Europe.  One more fact about blue eyes, that may be hard to believe, is that everyone with blue eyes actually shares one common ancestor.  The first-ever pair of baby blue eyes was a genetic fluke that was passed on...and on...and on.  The second rarest eye color is hazel which is a mixture of brown and green with golden flecks.  About 18% of Americans have hazel eyes, compared with about 5% of the world's population.  Violet eyes are a rarity, they're really just a blue hue, with light bouncing off the surroundings and turning they eyes violet.  Eye coloring is determined by melanin, which produces hair, eye and skin pigmentation.  The colored part of your eye, known as the iris, is comprised of two layers: the epithelium in the back, and the stroma in the front.  The epithelium contains blackish-brown pigments, while the storm has varying amounts of a pigment.  Eye color is directly related to the amount of melanin found in the stroma.  People with brown eyes have lots of melanin in the iris, while people with blue eyes have much less.  Your iris surrounds your pupil and helps control how much light enters your eye.  Light bounces off your melanin in different ways and creates the illusion of various hues.  Due to variations in melanin, eye color runs the gamut from very light blue to very dark brown.  Green irises, which is the rarest eye color, have less melanin than brown eyes but more than blue eyes.  Brown is on one end, blue on the other, and hazel and green are in between.  This means that brown is dominant and blue is the least dominant, also known as recessive.  Melanin prevents the sun's rays from getting into our eyes and creating cataracts.  The more melanin you have in your eyes, the lower your risk is.  Therefore...folks with brown eyes may be less likely to develop cataracts or sun-related damage to their eyes, than their blue-eyed counterparts.  I have also found that multiple genes contribute to eye color, with the main contributor your OCA2 gene.  75% of your eye color comes from this gene.  One more factor in eye color is the thickness of your iris.  It you have a thin iris you are lacking in melanin and your eye may look gray.  Geography also has a say in your eye color.  If you live in Australia your eye color percentage is 25% brown, 25% green-hazel and 50% blue.  Sun exposure may also play a role in color.  Some individuals have polka dots, known as brown fleets, in their eyes.  It may be due to sun exposure as a child.  Glaucoma has been known to change eye color as does wearing contact lenses.  The use of different colored contacts can increase the chances of developing corneal inflammation, ulcers and permanent scarring.  And...one more way to change the color of your eye is by using different colored contacts, but that may also increase your chances of developing corneal inflammation, ulcers and permanent scarring.  Laser corneal tattooing is another way to change the eye color.  It is a permanent contact that changes the color of your cornea.  There is really no safe way to change your eye color.  Why can't you just be happy with the color that you were born with?  God made you that way for a reason...so live with it!  I do!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.