Baby Kids Eyes Colors

What color will the eyes have?

Many parents long for their children to be born with blue or green eyes, and although many do so with an undefined gray-blue color, not all of them retain it as they grow up. What does the color of a person's eyes depend on? Can my child have clear if I have brown?
What does it depend on?


The color of the eyes varies from one person to another. This is due to the genetic information transmitted by parents and grandparents through chromosomes 15 and 19. Therefore, eye color is a polygenic trait that is determined by the amount and type of pigments present in the iris of the eye. the eyes.


Although there is always talk of three types of colors (brown, green and blue), humans have many phenotypic variations in the color of the eyes. It is a complex process in which several genes intervene in the final result, and we have cases like violet eyes or people with one eye of each color.


For a pure color to be given, all genes have to be the same. If not, a mixed color will appear. Also, keep in mind that the brown color is dominant over green or blue, so in countries like Spain, most children are born with dark eyes.


Between a brown-eyed father and a green-eyed mother, a mixed color is very unlikely because the brown color brings a large amount of melanin and very little green (only 2% of the world population has green eyes). The greater amount of melanin is the one that, in the end, determines the color of the eyes.


 Protect your baby's eyes from the sun
Protect your baby's eyes from the sun
The use of sunglasses is recommended throughout the year, although it is in summer when it is essential because ultraviolet radiation is greater. In addition, eye pathologies increase by 20% at this time of year, since the luminosity and sun exposure are greater and are the main factors that can damage the eyes.

And what is melanin? It is the brown or black pigment molecule that gives color to the skin, hair and eyes; It is a protein and its type and quantity is encoded in our genes. The color of the eye therefore depends on the transparency of the iris stroma and the amount of pigment it contains. The iris is the colored part of the eye that controls the amount of light that enters it. Irises that contain a lot of melanin are brown or black. Less melanin results in blue, green, gray and light brown irises.

Types of eyes

Brown eyes: Contain large amounts of melanin inside the iris that serve to absorb light. A person with brown eyes has at least one brown allele on chromosome 15 (blue and brown alleles), and can have any combination in 19 (blue and green alleles). Most of the original inhabitants of Africa, Asia and America have brown eyes. This color is also frequently found in Europe, Oceania and North America, although within European populations they are not predominant to the same extent. In this population, brown eyes are genetically linked to brown or black hair. Brown eyes are considered the most dominant color in the whole world.

Blue eyes:

 A person with blue eyes has aa couple on both chromosomes (15 and 19). Blue eyes are relatively common in many areas of Europe and outside Europe in areas with populations of European descent, such as Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. In the rest of the world they are rare, the world population with blue eyes does not exceed 150 million. Blue eyes contain low amounts of melanin inside the iris. This color appeared by a genetic mutation of a single individual about 6,000 years ago.


The Nordic countries have a large percentage of blue eyes, with 80% in Sweden, Finland or Denmark. The British islands also have high percentages of blue eyes, 50% in the United Kingdom and 60% in Ireland. In France 40%, while in Spain, the Balkans and northern Italy is 20%. In Russia, Germany, France, the Netherlands and other countries in central and eastern Europe, such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, blue eyes are present in a large part of the population. People with this type of color are more likely to get ophthalmic diseases.

Green eyes:

They are the product of moderate amounts of melanin, can be produced by the mixture of melanin of the parents if one has blue eyes and the other chestnut or hazel. A person with green eyes, has the aa pair on chromosome 15 (brown and blue alleles), and can have any combination in 19 (blue and green alleles) that includes at least one green allele.


In Europe they are present to a lesser extent than blues and chestnuts, except in Hungary, where green eyes make up 20% of the population, due to the presence of the Finno-Hungarian (89.9%) and German (2.6%) race. ) in the population. They are more common in people with European roots such as Irish Celtic (usually linked to a reddish-blond hair), Germanic (usually linked to golden blond hair), Slavic (usually linked to a blond hair) and Atlantic Mediterranean (usually linked to a hair between blond and brown that could look coppery). They appear, to a lesser extent, in several countries in southern Europe (Portugal, Greece, Italy, Spain and southern France). Less frequently it is still possible to find them in populations of Afghanistan and Iran, and some areas of the Middle East, mainly Israel and Lebanon.



Honey or hazel eyes: Describes eyes that contain elements of green, gray, and light brown eyes, sometimes passing on the edges of green to gray brown around the pupil in well-defined colors. They should not be confused with those that show a clear ring of brown, yellow or copper around the pupil, known as light brown.


They are commonly found in European countries such as Romania, France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Canada and the United States, among others. It is also present, although to a lesser extent, in some areas of the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America, with a certain frequency in countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Brazil.

Gray eyes: 

Contain the least amount of melanin than any of the other types. An example of gray eyes may be the case of an albino person. OCA1A is the most complete form of albinism, and most of those belonging to this group have gray eyes, while the OCA1B group (the next less severe form) has light blue eyes. This type of eyes has the lowest percentage of yellow and brown in the iris, these mixed colors are those that result in green or blue eyes. They are common in European Russia, Scandinavia, and the Baltic countries.

Black eyes: 

They are really rare, very rare because they occur by an anomaly called aniridia (a disease that causes the total absence of iris). They should not be confused with dark brown eyes.


Eyes of various colors: They occur due to marked differences in melanin in certain areas of the iris. It presents a heterogeneous aspect in which colors are seen separately without mixing between them.

 Red eyes:

 The eyes of a person with albinism may appear red under certain lighting conditions due to the very small amount of melanin. True red eyes also exist in albino populations, but they are extremely rare.

Violet eyes: The appearance of violet eyes is due to the combination of red and blue illuminations. Violet eyes are a form of blue eyes. Some albinos have eyes that look violet.

When is the eye color definitive?

Many babies are born with clear eyes, an undefined color that looks rather blue or gray. But this color is not usually the definitive one. Many newborns have blue eyes because melanin has not completely deposited in the iris or has not been darkened by exposure to ultraviolet light.

It is thought that exposure to the sun after birth activates the production of melanin in the iris of the eye. Up to three years of age, the eyes produce and keep enough melanin to change their initial color. Changes in the color of children's eyes are common. This change could occur even in adults, as a result of repeated exposure to the sun, since sunlight activates the production of melanin in the eye, as it does with the skin.

The final color is usually formed around 6 months, although it is better determined at one year of age. At 6 months you already have a better idea of ​​the final color because the pigmentation begins to form and more babies appear with brown or darker eyes, but some experience changes even in adulthood. When the eyes are dark from the first months, the color is definitive; however, light colored ones may persist or change.

Did you know…?
 

- The most common color is brown, and the least, green. In fact, less than 2% of the world population has green eyes. Turkey is the country with the highest percentage of population with green eyes, up to 20%. On the other side, there are countries, in Asia and South America, where there is not a single person with this type of eye color.

- There are people with one eye of each color. This rarity is called Heridchromia Iridium and can be congenital or acquired. In the first case, it appears from birth and can be associated with a strange congenital disease (such as the Claude-Bernard-Horne Syndrome or the Warrdenburg Syndrome), be hereditary or appear due to an alteration in the expression of the genes involved in the color of the eyes

If it is acquired, it can appear as a result of a strong blow to the eye, a melanoma, an eye drop or some other disease.

- The most famous example of acquired heterochromia is the singer David Bowie, who has left greenish brown and blue right. Bowie was born with both blue eyes, but in a fight in the schoolyard, a student stuck a compass in his eye. It is therefore heterochromia due to deposition of iron secondary to trauma. In our country, the actress Elena Anaya also has an eye of each color, in its case by a congenital heterochromia.