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.
7) Mood and emotions
But there is a slight change in the color of the eyes when the person is experiencing certain feelings, like sadness, anger, or happiness. This phenomenon is called eye color associated mood shift.
Pupils change sizes to let more light into the eye, often in surroundings with dim lighting. This causes the eye to appear darker due to the iris being less visible. Pupils also change sizes when you're experiencing intense emotions, giving rise to the myth that people's eyes can change colors to suit their emotions.
Environmental factors like stress and food may also influence eye color. Colored contact lenses are the easiest way to change eye color artificially, although it's only temporary.
The colors in your environment, including lighting and your clothes, can give the illusion of eye color change. "The factors that can cause eyes to change colors—or appear to have different colors—include genes, diseases, medications and trauma," said Omar Chaudhary, MD, an ophthalmologist in Potomac, Md.
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.
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. The pigment slow degrades over time, resulting in less color.
Colors are a perception of light reflecting off surrounding objects, and our eyes actually absorb some of those colors. This is why we see changes in hazel - and even blue and green - eyes.
Studies that have tracked eye movements of people with mental illness—think anxiety, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder—found that they have different gazing patterns (i.e., they tend to look at certain things longer, or not as long) than their healthy counterparts.
Loss of vision has been linked to loneliness, social isolation, and feelings of worry, anxiety, and fear. Depression is common in people with vision loss. In a recent CDC study , 1 in 4 adults with vision loss reported anxiety or depression.
According to a study published in the Open Access Journal of Behavioral Science & Psychology, individuals with dark eye colors may be more prone to depression than their lighter eyed counterparts. The reason, according to the study's lead author, may be related to how much light a person's eyes can process.
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.
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 color 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.
And while hazel eyes don't change colors, they can appear to do so according to someone's mood. As we mentioned previously, our pupils contract—not just in reaction to light but to our emotions as well. We see this in all eye colors, but it's more apparent in hazel.
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.
Only about 5 percent of the population worldwide has the hazel eye genetic mutation. After brown eyes, they have the most melanin. . The combination of having less melanin (as with green eyes) and a lot of melanin (like brown eyes) make this eye color unique.
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.
Common Explanations for Changes in Eye Color
When your pupils dilate, they change in size. Pupils change sizes to let more light into the eye, often in surroundings with dim lighting. This causes the eye to appear darker due to the iris being less visible.
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. Conversely, someone born with hazel eyes might see their irises get darker as they grow older.
Heterochromia refers to a condition where each iris has a different color. However, a few kinds of this condition exist. Partial heterochromia means parts of your irises are different colors. One corner might look green while the rest of the iris looks blue.
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.