Eye color in humans is inherited by one of many genes. From the moment of conception, a person is predetermined to have one or another shade of the iris. However, even scientists cannot say with 100% certainty what eye color a child will have. What affects the shade of the iris and what rare eye colors do people have?
What color are people's eyes: four main shades
People's eye colors are completely unique. It is known that the pattern on the iris is as unique as human fingerprints. There are mainly four colors of the iris - brown, blue, gray, green. According to statistics, green color- the rarest of those listed. It occurs in only 2% of people. There are only 4 primary colors, but there are many shades of them. IN exceptional cases The human iris can be red, black and even purple. These are the most unusual shades that the iris acquires after birth; they are extremely rare in nature.
Is it possible to determine what eye color a child will have?
After birth, the baby's eyes are usually light green or dull gray. After a few months, the tone of the iris changes. This happens thanks to melanin, which accumulates and forms the color of the eyes. The more melanin, the darker the iris. The color, which is determined by the genes, appears around the age of one, but it is finally formed only by 5, and in some cases by 10 years. The intensity of eye color, that is, the amount of melanin, is influenced by genetics and nationality. No geneticist can predict with absolute certainty what exact eye color a child will have. However, there are some patterns that allow us to assume what a person’s eyes will be like. These patterns can be seen using examples:
- If mom and dad have blue eyes, then the probability of having a child with the same iris shade is 99%. 1% remains for green, which is the rarest of the four main ones.
- If one parent has blue eyes and the other has green eyes, then there is a 50% chance that the child will have green or blue eyes.
- If dad and mom are green-eyed, then the probability of having a baby with green tint iris is 75%, 24% are cases of the birth of a baby with blue eyes, 1% - with brown.
- If one of the parents is blue-eyed and the other is brown-eyed, then their children will be brown-eyed in 50% of cases. 37% of children from such unions are born with blue eyes, and 13% with green eyes.
- Children with brown-eyed parents will also be brown-eyed in 75% of cases. They can have green-eyed children with a probability of 18%, and blue-eyed children with a probability of 7%.
It is worth taking into account that a child’s blue eyes may subsequently become sky blue, gray-green – emerald, and brown – black. This is almost impossible to predict. Actually, this is the basis of the uniqueness of the shade of the human iris. Sometimes she has an unusual color from birth. There are completely rare shades, found in only one person in hundreds of thousands. Let's make a list of the most unusual eye colors.
The most unusual eye color in the world. Top rare eye colors in people
First place in the list of “Most rare color eye" takes purple. This shade is obtained by mixing blue and red tones; few people have seen people with purple irises. As geneticists note, violet eyes are a similarity to blue eyes, that is, they are a variant or pigment of the blue color. It is believed that purple eye color is found only among the people of North Kashmir in the world. The legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor also had lilac eyes. Varieties of purple shade include ultramarine, amethyst and hyacinth.
Sometimes a lilac iris can be a symptom of pathology. In Marchesani syndrome, which is characterized by abnormal development of the eyes and limbs, the iris may take on a purple hue.
The color purple can be considered a great rarity; it is rather beyond comparison. Then the green tint rightfully takes first place in the ranking of eyes of unusual colors. Only 2% of the world's population has it. In this case, the following patterns are observed:
- Green-eyed ones are more common in Northern and Central Europe, including Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Scotland. In Iceland, approximately 40% of people have green eyes. In Asia, Africa, South America it is almost impossible to meet green-eyed people when it comes to indigenous people.
- Women have green eyes three times more often than men.
- Many green eyed people have white skin and red hair.
The most famous owner of green eyes is Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie. Her iris has a dark green tint. Actress Tilda Swinton has bright emerald green eyes, while Charlize Theron's irises are a calmer, light green color. Among men with green eyes, one can remember Tom Cruise and Clive Owen.
Another rare color is red. Most often, albinos have red eyes, although with albinism the iris is usually brown or blue. The iris becomes red when the melanin pigment is absent. Because of this, eye color is determined by shining through the iris blood vessels. If the red tint mixes with the blue tint of the stroma, the eyes may take on a magenta color, which is closer to violet.
Amber eye color, which is a type of brown, is also very rare. Amber eyes are usually bright, clear with a very strong golden tone throughout the iris. Varieties of amber color include golden green, reddish copper, tan and golden brown. True amber eyes, which may somewhat resemble the eyes of a wolf, are practically never found in nature. However, shades of amber are also quite beautiful and rare.
Fifth place in the top unusual eye colors is black. It is, in fact, another variety of brown. The black iris contains a lot of melanin, the amount of which determines the intensity of the color. Thanks to its saturation, the black tint almost completely absorbs the rays of light falling on the iris. This type of eye is found mainly among representatives of African peoples. In Caucasians, it is less common, but it is more common than purple, green and amber eyes. A famous owner of black eyes was the British actress Audrey Hepburn. Varieties of black include slate black, obsidian, pitch black, dark almond and jet black.
The eyes are also very rare different color. This physiological feature is called heterochromia.
Eyes of different colors
Heterochromia is a fairly rare phenomenon. It occurs in only 2% of the world's population. It occurs due to a lack of melanin in the iris of one eye. Congenital heterochromia develops approximately six months after the birth of a child, when pigment begins to be produced. If it is distributed unevenly, the eyes take on different shades.
Most often, congenital heterochromia is observed in women, although scientific explanations no to this. Men's eyes also come in different colors, but much less often. But their heterochromia manifests itself in a more unusual form.
Types of heterochromia:
- Full. Often in this case, one eye of a person is brown and the other is blue. Anatomically, the organs of vision do not differ from each other. They have the same size and visual acuity.
- Partial. With this form of heterochromia, the iris of one eye is colored in different shades. It can be divided into halves, quarters, or have wavy color borders. As a rule, partial heterochromia is observed in children aged two to four years. Subsequently, melanin is distributed evenly. If this does not happen, it is necessary to get checked and identify the presence of pathologies.
- Central. This form is characterized by the appearance of rings around the pupil. This phenomenon is somewhat reminiscent of the rainbow effect, when one iris has two or more rings of several colors. There are no more than a dozen such people all over the world.
Heterochromia, which has genetic background, manifests itself after birth. The acquired form occurs as a result of injuries and diseases, for example, Fuchs syndrome. This disease is an inflammation choroid and irises. The syndrome usually affects one eye. One of the symptoms of the disease is lightening of the iris. There are other, more rare pathologies that are accompanied by changes in the color of the iris. Among them:
- Posner-Schlossman syndrome is a type of uveitis, that is, inflammation of the iris and choroid;
- Horner's syndrome is a disease associated with lesions nervous system and manifested in the organs of vision;
- Pigmentary glaucoma is a pathology in which pigment separates from the iris and enters other parts of the eye;
- Iris melanoma - malignant tumor, which is usually dark brown in color.
All these pathologies are characterized by a change in eye color.
Chameleon eyes
Another rare phenomenon associated with iris color is chameleon eyes that change color. Changes in the shade of the iris can occur as a result of natural causes and under the influence of external factors. Natural emotions include emotions (stress, fear). External factors— air temperature, atmospheric pressure, room lighting. Chameleon eyes can become lighter or darker, depending on the influence of these factors. Such changes are temporary and not always noticeable.
The color of amber is quite common in human nature. This includes hair, the tints of tanned skin, and, of course, the shade of the eyes. The general name of this color group coincides with the color of the stone of the same name, which has many varieties in depth and color intensity. Next, we will look at examples and characteristics of such a feature as amber eye color.
Brief description of amber eye color
This tone falls on the color spectrum between red and yellow. There is no specific definition of what exactly it should be, but by amber people usually mean many similar shades: yellow, ocher, peach, gum, coral, light amber and others. Dark varieties of amber color are characterized by dark coral, red tones, burgundy, rusty shades, etc. The main condition here is the presence of a small amount of yellowness, which gives the main tone a warm tint.
This iris color is a type of brown eye. At the same time, people who have amber color irises can be found all over the world, from southern countries to Far East. Availability of this physiological feature talking about high content melanin in the body, which can reflect sunlight. The amber shade, being a separate variety brown color, is much less common, although it differs in the same biological characteristics. When a person has a light brown tone instead of brown, this just indicates a lower percentage of melanin.
Amber eye color is determined by four main factors:
- The percentage of a coloring pigment such as melanin.
- The presence of certain substances that give a yellowish tint (may be associated with liver disease).
- Features of the blood vessel system.
- Red tint to the iris (often seen in albinism).
By correlating these factors in specific proportions, we obtain different shades of amber color. All these features are largely formed under the influence of heredity, and the pigmentation of the iris is of decisive importance here.
Features of the formation of yellow eye color: interesting facts
The amber-yellow color of the iris is even rarer. In your lifetime you may only meet two or three people who have yellow eye. Perhaps the uniqueness and unusualness of this coloring historically influenced the attitude towards such a person among the common people as “not like everyone else” and even somewhat dangerous: folk beliefs Such eyes are called the “eye of the tiger.” Sometimes the yellow color of the iris is confused with a brown tone, because these shades differ only in highlights and tints. To distinguish between these colors, you need to know that the brown iris may appear greenish, while the amber-yellow one invariably retains a golden tone, sometimes shimmering with copper.
The golden hue is obtained due to the accumulation of lipochrome pigment. Such pupils can often be found in wildlife. They are characteristic of owls, wolves, eagles, lynxes and other representatives of the animal world, for which this pigment helps them better see prey at long distances. Some people transfer these evolutionary characteristics to the yellow-green color of human eyes, considering their owner capable of dangerous and unpredictable reactions.
In fact, the yellow tone of the eyes is genetically determined and is more common in people with mixed blood, characterized by the presence of Asian genes.
The amber or yellow color of the iris in combination with a green tint gives the so-called hazel color. This iris tone is mixed, sometimes called swamp. Walnut shades can be observed to one degree or another with a variety of iris colors, because any iris color is unique in its own way. Hazel eyes may differ in golden, brown or brown-green shades. This color is obtained through a combination of blue and brown tones with a moderate melanin content. Unlike amber irises, hazel irises have somewhat heterogeneous colors.
Myths and legends about golden eye color
It is believed that the eyes are the mirror of the soul. For this reason, in films and works of literature, non-standard eye color often emphasizes an unusual character or unique properties character. However, in reality, people do not have golden eye color. Golden or golden eyes usually refer to eyes that are amber-brown in color. This shade of the iris is found in cats, foxes, wolves and other predators. If a person looks at you with such eyes, then in front of you, most likely, is a character from a science fiction film or a werewolf.
According to the Persian chronicler Rashid ad-Din, Genghis Khan had golden eyes. However, modern Scientific research refute this fact, since in reality (in accordance with the mention of the conqueror’s red hair) it could only be green or light brown. In the film “The Passion of the Christ”, the owner of golden eyes is Jesus Christ, which is also mentioned in many apocrypha. In the television series Merlin, witches and wizards are distinguished by the golden color of their irises. At the same time, during witchcraft, their eyes begin to glow with a golden light.
Those who have amber or yellow eyes can be advised to combine this tone with warm shades: you can dye your hair golden brown or, for example, light red (which is also true for clothes).
The amber shade of eyes has always been surrounded by legends and mysteries. On the other hand, scientists consider it simply a game of genetics. In any case, such a unique feature is worth being proud of.
Green color has rightfully earned the title of “rare eye color.” It is found in Holland, Iceland and Central Europe, and is less common in other parts of the planet. The color of the organs of vision is determined by the amount of melanin in the cornea, the density of collagen fibers and light scattering. The most common colors are brown, dark blue or gray. The shade of the shell is a fickle phenomenon; it can change over the course of life. This process is influenced by vision pathologies and internal organs.
What does it depend on?
Eye color in humans is determined by the amount of melanin, the pigment of the iris, in the mesodermal (front) layer, since the ectodermal (back) layer is always dark. The darker they are, the more melanin. This is how they are formed Brown eyes, black or light brown. Blue or green eyes are formed when the percentage of melanin is less. Red eye color in humans is rare. People who have unusual red eyes are called albinos. In this case, the iris white color, in which the percentage of melanin is zero and the effect is provided by vessels filled with blood. The ratio of pigments is a genetic factor.
It is believed that dark colors dominate the population over light shades. If one parent has high percentages of pigment in the iris, then the children are more likely to have dark color. Nature has its own laws and color can change over time. In the European race, melanin tends to accumulate and due to an increase in the percentage of pigment, the eyes gradually darken. With advancing age, the membrane becomes pale due to the loss of transparency of the mesodermal layer. Some pathologies visual system cause changes in eye color.
What colors are there?
A newborn baby's irises are blue.
The most common eye color is blue, less often the organs of vision are gray or blue. This is due to the low density of collagen fibers and a small percentage of melanin, in which case a person’s eyes are blue. The saturation of the shade will come from the lower density of the fabric. This color is more common in newborns in the first few months of life. With a higher fiber density, the shade will be bluer or gray. This type of color is common among Europeans. In women of Central and Northern Europe often bright green; for other regions of the planet and for men this shade is unusual. Popular colors:
- brown;
- grey-green;
- blue;
- amber;
- green with hints of tint.
Sapphire eyes are a very rare color. They are actually never found, they are often called when they see a honey or amber green color. Light colors more often observed in newborns or elderly people.
The natural purple tint of the iris can be caused by a pigment mutation. Mutation of the pigment can cause unique shades such as violet, magenta, amethyst. Natural colors of such shades are found in a very small number of people. Ailments such as glaucoma, cataracts, decreased visual acuity, photophobia and other diseases of internal organs can provoke color changes. There are more people with gray, brown and blue eyes. Also the shade is distinctive feature region of residence.
Every person has a feature that can affect his destiny. This is the color of the eyes. It is undeniable that people with sky blue eyes attract more attention. This also applies to those with black eyes. Even poets praise them in their works.
Eyes. Eye color around the world
The eyes appear and look like something foreign, like pieces of unusual glass. They are called the mirror of the soul. There is a feeling that they help to see what is inside, hidden in the soul. It is not for nothing that eyes are the object of attention of soothsayers, psychics, magicians and fortune tellers. Eyes are something mysterious that connects a person with an unusual, different, unknown world...
There are a wide variety of colors. Some of them are very common, and there are also people who have the rarest eye color. Moreover, each color has various shades. Most often this diversity is invisible, but sometimes it catches the eye.
People with a wide variety of eye colors are distributed throughout the world, and unevenly. For example, in Africa the dark-eyed population predominates, while in the Scandinavian countries the light-eyed population predominates. Green eye color is the rarest on the planet, however, their owners can be found on any continent.
In dark eyes (brown and black), the iris is saturated with a large amount of melanin. Apparently, the predominance of one color or another among different nationalities also depends on the climatic conditions of life.
Why are they different for everyone?
The main creator of eye color is melanin, or rather, its amount in the human body. Brown-eyed people have a lot of it, but people with green eyes, the rarest color, have very little melanin. However, heredity also plays a role.
Each person has the color of the iris, determined by genes (passed on by inheritance). Moreover, the color can be passed on from grandparents.
It is believed that it is possible to find out the eye color of an unborn child. Let's look at some examples:
1. If, say, both parents have blue eyes, then there is a 99% chance that the child will be born with blue eyes and only 1% chance that the baby will have green - the rarest eye color;
2. If one parent has blue ones, the other has green ones, the probability is 50% to 50%.
3. If both parents are green-eyed, then there is a 75% chance that the child will have green eyes, 24% - blue eyes and 1% - brown;
4. If one of the parents is the owner blue color, the other is brown-eyed, then with a probability of 50% their child will have brown eyes, 37% will have green eyes, and 13% will have blue eyes;
5. Brown-eyed parents produce offspring with brown eyes with a probability of 75%, 18% of cases with green eyes and only 7% with blue eyes.
According to statistics, the predominant color in the world is brown eyes. Such people can be found almost everywhere, although in different percentages. total number people in different parts Earth.
The rarest eye color in the world is green. Only 2% of people around the world have such an unusual beautiful color. There is a legend: in the Middle Ages green eyed people They burned them, considering them to be witches. Usually red-haired people have this color. Due to these events, the gene that imparts green color to the eyes has become a minority.
The most common green-eyed people are among the Eastern peoples and Western Slavs, among the Scots and Germans. However, even among Icelanders there are often owners of unusual green eyes. 80% of the inhabitants of this small state have blue and green colors.
In Turkey, this rather rare color is observed in 20% of the population. There are practically no green-eyed people in South America, Asian countries and the Middle East. It is also believed that the most exotic, rarest eye color is purple.
Unusual colors
And yet, what eye color is the rarest? In the world you can find more unusual, and even very rare colors. Various genetic changes (mutations), serious illnesses can cause the iris to take on the rarest eye color. Or there are purple eyes, it looks fantastic.
In addition, there are people with eyes of different colors. This disorder is familiar to many - heterochromia. It can be either complete or partial. In the first case: one eye, for example, is blue, the second is brown. With partial heterochromia, only a small part of the eye differs in color from the entire iris. Such partial heterochromia occurs more often in life than complete heterochromia. Both types of heterochromia most often occur in animals.
Meet and congenital disorders. One of them is aniridia. With this problem, the iris may be partially or completely absent.
There is also albinism, a rare but very serious birth defect that occurs in albinos. The eye color of such people is almost red - the rarest color among people with various abnormalities (mutations).
Change in eye color. Could this happen?
Eye color depends on the pigmentation of the iris itself. The vessels, the fibers of the eye shell themselves, also play an important role in this. Immediately after birth, children's eyes are usually blue or light blue. Of course, there are often brown-eyed newborns. Over time, their color may change.
Eye color is fully formed by the age of 12. And closer to old age it begins to fade. This is due to depigmentation.
Relationship between eye color and other external characteristics of people
Usually eye color is associated with hair color and skin color. In classic cases, persons with dark skin have dark color hair and dark eyes(black and brown), such as Africans and Asians. People with lighter skin have blonde hair and light-colored eyes (blue, gray, blue). These are Swedes and people of Slavic nationalities.
Eyes and character of a person
In general, the relationship between eye color and a person’s character has not been proven. And yet, studies were conducted in America in which women and girls participated (1000 people from 16 to 35 years old).
Results of a survey about people with brown eyes:
34% of respondents associate brown eyes with people with developed intelligence;
13% - with kindness;
16% of respondents believe that people with such eyes can be trusted.
The rarest eye color (green) is associated with the following characteristics in people:
29% of respondents had associations with a sign of sexuality;
25% - with creativity;
20% of respondents associate it with cunning.
The following associations arose about people with blue eyes:
42% are nice people;
21% - sexual;
10% are kind people.
Celebrity eye color
The charming film actor Brad Pitt and Margaret Thatcher have blue eyes.
The rarest eye color in the world is green among Demi Moore, Angelina Jolie and Russian ballerina Anastasia Volochkova.
Strong historical figures Lenin and Stalin had amber eyes.
The dark-eyed beautiful American actress Salma Hayek.
The famous musician Sting is blue-eyed. This includes Napoleon.
The eyes of the dazzling actress Julia Roberts have a beautiful marsh color.
Eyes are the wealth of every person. This is a window to the outside world. They enable people to see the beauty of nature and the attractiveness of the entire world around them. Eyes of any color are unique to each person. We must be proud of them and take care of them. After all, this is a gift of fate and nature.
Scientists have calculated that there are 8 eye colors. And these are just the most common ones. But there are people on the planet who have the rarest eye color.
What eye color is most common?
The most common eye color in the world is brown. The only exceptions are the Baltic countries, where there are a lot of fair-haired people, and accordingly, most of them have blue eyes.
Most often people are born on Earth with brown eyes
Nature has its own laws. And people with brown eyes are most often found in hot, southern countries. Brown eye color fulfills its specific function. The more sunlight glare, the darker the eyes of people who live in such areas.
It is dark eyes that can protect a person from the bright, scorching sun. But there is also a paradox. Almost every resident of the Far North, in places where there is never heat, has brown eyes. And the dark color of the eyes already protects from the snow-white, cutting snow.
Therefore, many light-eyed people find it very difficult to look at white snow in winter.
Previously, all people on Earth had brown eyes
Even 10,000 years ago, all people had brown eyes. But for unknown reasons, a mutation occurred in the human body, and people with different shades of eyes appeared in the world.
People with brown eyes are associated with the planets Venus and the Sun. The Sun endowed them with an ardent and passionate nature, and Venus endowed them with tenderness. Perhaps this is so, but brown-eyed people are considered to be self-confident, a little cold in relationships, proud and slightly selfish.
They fall in love easily, but their passion cools down just as quickly. Brown-eyed people have no problems communicating with people. They will always find something to talk about. They love to talk. But most often about myself. And most importantly, they love to be listened to.
But they are “ungrateful” listeners.
Blue eyes are much less common than brown ones. Scientists conducted research and were surprised that people with brown eyes evoked trust and a sense of reliability in the majority of respondents.
Showing photographs different people, whose eye color was changed using Photoshop, 90% of the subjects still chose those people who had naturally brown eyes. It turned out that those with this eye shade have features in their facial structure that people like.
Therefore, if you put people with different shades of eyes next to each other and they close them, 95% will choose the brown-eyed ones. The rarest eye color in the world is green.
Only 2% of people on our planet have this shade.
Why are people rarely found with green eyes?
In ancient times, green eye color was always associated with witches and sorcerers. It was believed that people with this shade are endowed with magical, magnetic energy.
Scientists are still struggling with the question of why this is such a rare eye color. 2% of green-eyed people among the 7 billion people living on planet Earth are like a grain of sand in Space.
Green eye color is considered the rarest
Most researchers come to the conclusion that the reason for such a small number of green-eyed people is the Inquisition, which fiercely fought against the owners of such eyes. In those days, green-eyed beauties were considered witches, and for this they were burned at the stake.
Women with green eyes were outcasts during the Middle Ages. They died only because God gave them green eyes. And if 90% of green-eyed people are women, then who could produce offspring if they were burned at the stake at a very young age? And men in those days avoided such beauties, fearing their witchcraft.
The most green-eyed people live in Holland
If you approach with scientific point vision, the shades of a person’s eyes depend on the amount of melanin in the body. Green-eyed people produce a negligible amount of it. Green eyes are more common in women than in men.
Therefore, seeing a man with green eyes is very rare. If we take the most “green-eyed” countries, then they are Holland and Iceland. 80% of green-eyed people live here. The remaining 20% comes from residents of Turkey.
Despite the fact that there are 8 shades of eyes, this color is so rare that it is not even included in this list.
Lilac eye color: myth or truth?
It is almost impossible to meet people with lilac eyes. There are myths that the lilac shade of the eyes is associated with a mutation, which doctors have given the name “Alexandria origin.” It does not affect vision and is harmless.
We can even say with confidence that she made such people happy, endowing them with a unique natural beauty of the billions of people on our planet.
There is also a theory that purple eye color may be caused by Marchesani syndrome. However, the characteristics of the disease do not mention such a symptom; people suffering from Marchesani syndrome are characterized by short stature, underdeveloped limbs and a number of vision problems.
But still, we should not exclude the fact that ophthalmological problems of this kind can occasionally cause a change in eye color.
In medicine, there is also a theory about the occurrence of lilac eyes - the disease albinism. This disease is characterized by a lack of melanin in the body.
Albinos usually have red, red eyes, but there are times when their eyes reflect the blue collagen a little more strongly than normal, giving their eyes a purple tint.
Purple eye color
One way or another, violet eyes cause considerable interest. But, unfortunately, all this is more myth than truth.
Celebrities with unusual (rare) eyes
Elizabeth Taylor is one of the rare owners of amazing eyes.
But the uniqueness of her eyes lies solely in the fact that she has a double row of eyelashes. Ah, the photos of the actress with purple eyes are a result of the lighting on the set.
Elizabeth Taylor's unusual lilac eyes
In fact, Elizabeth Taylor's eye color is blue-gray.
Actress Kate Bosworth has different colored eyes
Actress Kate Bosworth too amazing eyes- they are different colors. This pathology is caused by heterochromia, during which the irises of the eyes are painted in different colors.
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