Having blue eyes can sometimes be an indication of ocular albinism, a very rare form of albinism which only affects the eyes, and causes them to become very pale blue.
It all depends on when the melanin “kicks in.”Ī number of popular artists have written songs about blue eyes, including Blue Eyes by Elton John, Behind Blue Eyes by The Who, Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye by The Black Crows, Pale Blue Eyes by R.E.M, Blue Eyes Blue by Eric Clapton, and Blue Eyes Cryin in the Rain by Willie Nelson. Many babies are indeed born with blue eyes and then have them change to a darker color. The more melanin, the darker the eyes will end up being. Colors other than blue occur due to levels of melanin that the eyes are exposed to. It is true that everyone’s eyes do start off blue, but the color can change before the baby is born. Beginning blueĪlthough it has been said that all babies are born with blue eyes, that is not completely true. The area around the Balkans is believed to be where the first person with blue eyes was born thousands of years ago. In Germany, the numbers fall off to about 75 percent. For example, about 99 percent of the people from the area around the Balkans or the Black Sea have blue eyes. Blue eyes are quite rare in some parts of the world and extremely common in others. These days there are about 300 million people worldwide that carry the mutation that results in blue eyes. The cause for vitiligo is not well-understood but it is believed to be a type of autoimmune disorder.
This causes areas of skin to lose pigmentation and results in patches of white skin that seem to appear randomly anywhere on the body, including on the face. Another riskīlue-eyed people are also more likely to develop a skin condition known as vitiligo.
This same disorder can also result in a person having pale blue eyes. A rare disorder called Waardenburg syndrome can cause people to have two different colored eyes. Where genetics are concerned, brown eyes are more dominant, and someday blue eyes could actually become somewhat of a rarity as people with the genetic mutation that results in blue eyes are literally bred out of the world’s population.Īs we all know, eyes come in a variety of shades and colors, including brown, green, hazel, and of course, blue. One might expect two blue-eyed people to give birth to offspring with eyes of the same color, but it is entirely possible for them to have children with brown eyes. For this reason, they should be more vigilant about protecting their eyes against too much sun exposure by wearing sunglasses or making sure their prescription glasses include protection from ultraviolet rays. This sensitivity can make blue-eyed people more prone to problems like melanoma of the eyes. Protect those blues!īlue eyes are more sensitive to light than darker-colored eyes since they do not have as much melanin. However, it was also discovered that they are more likely to abuse alcohol. Studies have been carried out that prove this, one involving prison inmates and another that was focused on women. People with blue eyes have a higher tolerance for alcohol. This sounds more like it could be one of those myths someone made up a long time ago that persisted, but this one is actually true. These people are quite likely to be descendants of that first blue-eyed individual. This certainly must have been a startling development for the people of the time who had only ever seen people with brown eyes up until that point. DNA testing helped reveal that it was a mutation that occurred thousands of years ago that caused some people to have blue eyes. Evidence suggests that every human being that existed up until around 6,000 or 10,000 years ago had brown eyes. A researcher in Denmark has concluded that every blue-eyed person in the world is related.