Eye Colors: What Gives Eyes Their Color?

          Eye color often is the genetic trait that fascinates parents the most as a child develops. Will the child's eyes be black, brown, blue, gray, green, hazel or some combination of colors?

          How a child looks depends on the genetic material each parent contributes to the child. But the parents' genes can mix and match in many different ways. The influences from each parent aren't known until — surprise — after the child is born!

        Your eye color depends on how much of the pigment melanin you have in your iris—the colored part of your eyes. The more pigment you have, the darker your eyes will be. Blue, grey, and green eyes are lighter because they have less melanin in the iris.

          Eye color is an inherited trait and determined by a person’s genes. Most people in the world will end up with brown eyes. The next most common colors are blue and grey, and green is the rarest color.

          Besides giving our eyes color, melanin helps protect them from the sun. While all eyes have sensitivit

          No matter your eye color, it’s important to always protect your eyes when outdoors whether you need prescription sunglasses or not. Make sure you’re well equipped with a pair of sunglasses to reflect the sun’s harmful rays.

Natural Eye Color Change

          Newborn babies don't have melanin in their eyes, so they begin life with blue or almost colorless eyes. The melanin gradually increases, and by about three years of age, their eyes will have darkened to their true color.

          Disease, trauma, and aging can lead to changes in eye color. The more your eyes are exposed to the sun’s harmful rays, the higher your risk is to developing cataracts or macular degeneration later in life.

Superstitions about Eye Color

          On a side note, eye color has been the source of superstition through the years. The mystically-inclined believe the eyes are the windows to the soul and eye color shows a person's talents. Some personality traits attributed to eye color are:

• Blue-eyed people have rich imaginations.
• Those with green eyes have sharp minds.
• Hazel eyes indicate passionate souls.
• People with brown eyes are calm but have underlying passion.

Now that you know what gives you your eye color, and the importance of protecting your eyes, head to Golden Eye Optometry to grab some stylish frames.