Hazel and amber eyes can both be found in about 5 percent of the worldwide population. Hazel eyes are generally light or yellowish-brown with flecks of gold, green and brown in the center.
Why are hazel eyes so rare? 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.
Hazel eyes:
Hazel eyes are most common in North Africa, the Middle East, Brazil, and Spain.
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.
Green is considered by some to be the actual rarest eye color in the world, though others would say it's been dethroned by red, violet, and grey eyes. Green eyes don't possess a lot of melanin, which creates a Rayleigh scattering effect: Light gets reflected and scattered by the eyes instead of absorbed by pigment.
Hazel eyes are sometimes mistaken for green or brown eyes. They are not as rare as green eyes, but are rarer than blue eyes. Only about 5 percent of the population worldwide has the hazel eye genetic mutation.
According to the World Atlas, only about 5% of the world's population has hazel eyes, making them extremely uncommon. Meanwhile, blue eyes account for about 8 to 10% of the world population whereas brown eyes dominate at a whopping 79%. However, this doesn't make hazel the rarest eye color.
Hazel eyes are due to a combination of Rayleigh scattering and a moderate amount of melanin in the iris' anterior border layer. Hazel eyes often appear to shift in color from a brown to a green. Although hazel mostly consists of brown and green, the dominant color in the eye can either be brown/gold or green.
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.
Hazel eyes play a delicate game of limbo between brown and blue, having less pigment than brown and more than blue. Eye color can change through the years as amount of pigment in the eyes differs based on genetics.
As you can see, it is possible to have brown eyes and have a B and a b version of the BEY2 gene. Or green eyes and have a G and a b version of GEY. These people are carriers for blue eyes. OK, so to have hazel eyes you need a G from the GEY gene and an M from our modifier gene.
Did Elizabeth Taylor have violet eyes? These days, thanks to colored contact lenses, anyone can have violet-colored eyes . Taylor didn't come by her purple peepers that way; the first tinted contact lenses weren't commercially available until 1983. Taylor's eye color was the real deal.
Hazel eyes mostly consist of shades of brown and green. Much like gray eyes, hazel eyes may appear to “change color” from green to light brown to gold.
Each parent will pass one copy of their eye color gene to their child. In this case, the mom will always pass B and the dad will always pass b. This means all of their kids will be Bb and have brown eyes. Each child will show the mom's dominant trait.
There are two main types of hazel eyes: those with brown as the dominant color in the iris and those with green as the dominant color. While all hazel eyes will have a combination of green and brown colors, the difference in dominant colors is why hazel eyes can appear either mostly green or mostly brown.
Hazel Eyes
Those with more brown are said to be more approachable. However, compared to other eye colours, hazel eyes are viewed as more special as they change colour depending on your mood. You are strong, sensitive and secretive, and possess immense physical strength.
Hazel eyes are used to describe the eye color of mostly white populations where there is a mix of people with blue, green, and brown eyes, upping the genetic chance for hazel eyes to occur.
Hazel eyes have flecks of gold, green, and brown, so it's best to complement them with warm-toned blondes, browns, and reds if you really want your eye color to stand out. If your hazel eyes have a lot of green in them, rich red shades like auburn and copper will work best for you.
As much as we'd like to believe that hazel eyes can change color like a mood ring does, most of the time it's really just a trick of the light! What you're seeing is actually Rayleigh scattering — the same phenomenon that makes the sky appear blue.
Lighter-colored eyes have less pigment to protect against sun damage and UV radiation compared to darker-colored eyes. This means that people with green, hazel, or blue eyes are more sensitive to light and more susceptible to UV damage.
Advantages of Hazel Eyes
The levels of melanin in hazel eyes may offer some benefits to the brain. People with hazel eyes appear to be less likely to have nerve damage from environmental noise than people with blue eyes. There are some beliefs that people with hazel eyes tend to have a more positive outlook on things.
Behind these hazel eyes
Alcon Air Optix® Color Pure Hazel contact lenses are one of the most natural looking hazel green lenses out there. This lens appears more hazel green in sunlight and more green in low light.
Your eye color fully matures in infancy. From this early age, you'll have naturally brown, blue, hazel, green, or gray eyes for the rest of your life. Some people wear colored contacts to enhance the intensity or change the color of their eyes.