In most people, the answer is no. Eye color fully matures in infancy and remains the same for life. But in a small percentage of adults, eye color can naturally become either noticeably darker or lighter with age. What determines eye color is the pigment melanin.
Natural Age-Related Eye Color Changes
As they are exposed to light, melanin production increases, causing the color of their eyes to shift. However, eye color changes can also occur as a person ages. Those with lighter color eyes – especially Caucasians – may see their eyes lighten over time.
Changes in eye color are rare. Sometimes, the color of your eye may appear to change when your pupils dilate. The colors in your environment, including lighting and your clothes, can give the illusion of eye color change.
In as much as 15 percent of the white population (or people who tend to have lighter eye colors), eye color changes with age. People who had deep brown eyes during their youth and adulthood may experience a lightening of their eye pigment as they enter middle age, giving them hazel eyes.
The genetic switch is located in the gene adjacent to OCA2 and rather than completely turning off the gene, the switch limits its action, which reduces the production of melanin in the iris. In effect, the turned-down switch diluted brown eyes to blue.
In most people, the answer is no. Eye color fully matures in infancy and remains the same for life.
The pupil can change size with certain emotions, thus changing the iris color dispersion and the eye color. You've probably heard people say your eyes change color when you're angry, and that probably is true. Your eyes can also change color with age. They usually darken somewhat.
We found that green is the most popular lens colour, with brown coming in a close second, despite it being one of the most common eye colours. Although blue and hazel are seen as the most attractive eye colours for men and women they are surprisingly the least popular.
Can you change the color of your eyes naturally? Unfortunately, no. Just like your hair and skin color, the color of your iris is genetic. That means that unless you break down your genetic code or cell structure, your eye color cannot be changed permanently without surgery.
The most likely explanation for a change in eye color is to change the amount of pigment producing proteins made. There are lots of cases where something in the environment changes the amount of protein that is made. The color of a person's clothing can “bring out” their eyes, making them appear a different color.
The largest concentration of green eyed people is in Ireland, Scotland and Northern Europe. In Ireland and Scotland, 86% of people have either blue or green eyes. There have been 16 genes identified that contribute to eye colour.
Your specific eye color depends on the amount of pigment present on the two surfaces of your iris. People with dark brown eyes have more melanin on the back layer of their iris, and eyes with very little (or no) melanin on the front layer of the iris appear more blue, green, or even hazel.
Fuchs Heterochromic Iridocyclitis (FHI) - This is an inflammation that occurs in some parts of the front of the eye, including the iris. One symptom of this is a loss of iris pigmentation, which may change your eye color. It may also cause cataracts, and if left untreated can lead to glaucoma.
Of the 77 brown-eyed newborns, almost all (73) still had brown eyes at the age of two. It appears, then, that blue eyes are much more likely to change than brown eyes during the early stages of our lives.
Yorkshire-based iridologist John Andrews said: "Alas, it is a misconception that eyes change color with diet.
Brown eyes may have ranked as the least attractive, but they were 1.6 times more likely than blue eyes to be described as trustworthy.
Intelligence was the number one trait associated with brown, the most common eye color in the U.S., by 34 percent of respondents.
Green is the rarest eye color in the world, with only 2% of the world's population (and fewer than one out of ten Americans) sporting green peepers, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO).
People with brown eyes are said to be independent, determined and self-confident. Yet, you never fail to remain humble. When people look at you, they get a sense of security and stability – you are known to be trustworthy. While you may want to act tough, your brown eyes portray how kind and sensitive you truly are.
These results agree with previous research which found that brown or dark-eyed people were significantly more depressed than those with blue eyes. The reason that eye colour may make some people more susceptible to depression or mood changes might be because of the amount of light an individual's eyes can process.
Your children inherit their eye colors from you and your partner. It's a combination of mom and dad's eye colors – generally, the color is determined by this mix and whether the genes are dominant or recessive. Every child carries two copies of every gene – one comes from mom, and the other comes from dad.
If both the parents have brown eyes, then there is generally a 25% chance for their child to have blue eyes. Because both the brown-eyed parents have a recessive blue-eye gene and can pass it to the next generation. However, since eye color is polygenic, several other genes exert their effects as well.