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.
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.
Hazel eyes can often appear to change colors more than other eye colors. Because they contain a variety of pigments, not just a solid hue, they can look very different under different lighting. But, again, your iris itself isn't actually changing color.
Yes, it is possible for someone's eyes to turn from hazel to green. This typically occurs when the melanin in the iris of the eye increases or decreases. When the amount of melanin increases, the eye can take on a greenish hue, while when it decreases it can take on a more hazel-colored hue.
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.
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.
According to the World Atlas, only about 5% of the world's population has hazel eyes, making them extremely uncommon, yet they are NOT becoming more rare. Meanwhile, blue eyes account for about 8 to 10% of the world population whereas brown eyes dominate at a whopping 79%.
In most eye colors, the melanin amount is consistent across the entire iris. But in hazel eyes, different amounts of melanin can exist in different parts of the iris. This is why some areas of hazel eyes can appear brown, while others might seem green, blue, or amber.
Some folks with hazel eyes observe shifts in their eye color between hazel and green or brown. This is usually caused by a change in environmental factors such as the amount of lighting in a room and the color of surrounding objects. This shift in eye color also depends on the ratio of brown-to-green in the iris.
Of those four, green is the rarest. It shows up in about 9% of Americans but only 2% of the world's population. Hazel/amber is the next rarest of these. Blue is the second most common and brown tops the list with 45% of the U.S. population and possibly almost 80% worldwide.
Hazel is the most attractive eye colour in females
While hazel was the most popular eye colour to receive a “like”, it only beat purple eyes - which aren't naturally possible - by a single match.
If you're looking to go lighter while staying true to your dark roots, you'll love bronde hair. Bronde hair allows you to experiment with both ends of the color spectrum—plus, the golden blonde tones can make your hazel eyes look brighter.
One of the best hair colors for hazel eyes has to be blonde balayage on brunette hair. Acting almost like babylights, the blonde is several shades lighter than the natural ash brown hair, which draws attention to striking hazel color eyes.
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.
At birth your baby's eyes may appear gray or blue due to a lack of pigment. Once exposed to light, the eye color will most likely start to change to blue, green, hazel, or brown over a period of six months to one year.
One of the study's main findings was that gray eyes are both the rarest and the statistically most attractive eye color, with hazel and green following closely behind. Conversely, brown eyes are the most common color yet the least attractive to the survey's respondents.
The cool thing is that when the pupil changes size, the pigments in the iris compress or spread apart. This changes the eye color to a degree. The pupil can change size with certain emotions, thus changing the iris color dispersion and the eye color.
Hazel eyes have also been voted as one of the most attractive eye colours and can, therefore, be argued to have the best of both worlds, health and beauty. Green eyes are incredibly rare, which may be the reason as to why some believe this to be the most attractive eye colour. Grey eyes are also a rare eye color.
Much like gray eyes, hazel eyes may appear to “change color” from green to light brown to gold. Individuals whose eyes appear to be one color closest to the pupil, another color a little farther our, and another color around the edge of the iris are likely to have hazel eyes.
But in a person whose eyes are lighter -- particularly hazel or blue -- light hitting the colored part of the eye, called the iris, creates an illusion that the eye has shifted colors. Clothing can have this effect, Dr. Saffra explained, but so can a different pair of glasses or even a new hair color.
Hazel eyes are a mix of colors and can seem warm when a person has cool undertones.
Hazel eyes are more common in North Africa, the Middle East, and Brazil, as well as in people of Spanish heritage.
A blue and a green-eyed parent will have all hazel-eyed kids. This is one of the reasons I like the modifier gene explanation so much. It can help explain how green and blue-eyed parents might have hazel-eyed kids.
If your eye color is Hazel, then your eye color personality reveals that you are imaginative, determined, adventurous, and open to trying new things. You have a thing for taking risks. You are filled with strong and active energy. You are also a deep thinker.
When your pupils shrink or dilate, the color of your eyes may seem to change. For example, if your pupils widen, not as much of your irises are exposed, and the remaining irises look darker. On the other hand, when your pupils are smaller, your eye color may appear lighter.