Quick Answers
It is rare for brown eyes to turn blue later in life. However, there are a few possible reasons why brown eyes may appear to look more blue over time:
- The amount of melanin pigment in the iris decreases with age, making brown eyes lighter.
- Changes to the fibrous tissue in the iris as the eye ages can make brown eyes appear less brown.
- Environmental factors like sunlight exposure can break down melanin and reduce brown color.
- Trauma, some diseases, and medications can affect melanin production and cause brown eyes to lighten.
- Lasering or whitening procedures intentionally remove melanin pigment from brown irises.
So while true changes in eye color from brown to blue do not occur, there are some valid reasons why brown eyes may look more blue or grayish with time or due to other factors. The key is that the underlying genetics that determine eye color remain unchanged.
Eye color is one of the most distinctive physical features of a person. Our iris contains pigment that determines our eye color. For most, eye color remains the same throughout life. However, some people with brown eyes may notice their eyes becoming lighter, with hues of blue, gray or green becoming more prominent in later life. This can be alarming if you expect your eye color to remain stable.
While a full transformation from brown to blue rarely occurs, there are some reasons why brown eyes may start to look less brown over time. The key factors have to do with changes in pigment and the structure of the iris itself as we age. Environmental lifestyle factors can also impact the shade and intensity of brown eye color.
Understanding why brown eyes can appear to change hue to blue or gray involves looking at how eye color originates and what can prompt shifts in the shade of brown irises during a person’s lifetime.
What Determines Your Eye Color?
Eye color is genetically determined, relying on how much of the pigment melanin is present in the iris. Melanin is produced by cells called melanocytes. The amount and type of melanin passed down to you by your parents determines your genetically programmed eye color.
There are two types of melanin that impact eye color:
- Eumelanin – A brown/black pigment that produces brown and black hues.
- Pheomelanin – A red/yellow pigment that produces red and yellow hues.
People with brown eyes have a high concentration of eumelanin in their irises. This rich, dark brown pigment absorbs light and causes the deep brown color.
In contrast, people with blue eyes have much lower levels of melanin. The lack of pigment allows more light to scatter and reflect off the collagen fibers in the iris, creating a blue hue.
Other eye colors like green, gray, and hazel occur when people produce moderate or variable levels of melanin. The light scattering effect combines with the melanin present to produce different shades.
Melanin Amount is Fixed at Birth
The key point is that the genetic programming that controls melanin pigment production is fixed at birth. So while the amount of observable melanin may change over your lifetime, the basic genetics encoded in your DNA stay the same.
This means true changes to the genetic code that suddenly reduce eumelanin and make brown eyes become blue do not happen later in life. The basic genetics of eye color are firmly set.
However, factors can affect how the fixed amount of melanin in your eyes is expressed, deposited, clumped, and broken down. This leads to changes in the visible color and intensity of brown irises over time.
Why Can Brown Eyes Appear to Change Color?
While brown eyes turning completely blue is extremely rare, there are some reasons why brown eyes commonly start to look less brown and develop hints of blue/gray shades with age.
Melanin Levels Naturally Decline
As you age, the pigment cells in the iris gradually produce less melanin. Over decades, the decrease in melanin can be enough to make some brown eyes look less dark brown.
The loss of melanin cells and melanin density in the iris is a natural part of the aging process. Over time, this tends to make brown eyes lighter and less intense in hue. It is uncommon for the change to be so dramatic that very dark brown eyes become vividly blue. However, brown eyes turning into hazel, amber, or lighter brown hues is certainly possible.
Changes to Eye Structure and Light Scattering
Apart from melanin pigment levels, the anatomy of the iris itself can transform as a person gets older. Fibrous tissues within the iris may weaken or change in structure. This can affect how light travels through the iris and enhances light scattering effects.
More light bouncing off the collagen fibers in aged irises can lead to the appearance of lighter brown, blue, or gray flecks in the eyes. The eyes don’t contain less melanin per se, but structural changes mean less of the melanin is visible to the eye. The altered optics make the brown color seem less intense overall.
Environmental Factors
Environmental influences like sun exposure can degrade and break down melanin pigment over time. The UV radiation in sunlight oxidizes the melanin in the iris, dismantling and dissolving the brown pigment. Long-term sun exposure without adequate eye protection can cause enough melanin depletion to make brown eyes look hazel or bluish-gray.
Chemicals and toxins in some work environments have also been linked to reducing visible melanin in the iris and lightening brown eyes. Activities like swimming in heavily chlorinated pools may have subtle effects on melanin as well. The environmental damaging of melanin produces a cosmetic change in eye color, not a true change in genetics. But the effect can still be enough to make brown eyes look less brown.
Injuries and Diseases
Trauma to the eyes or certain illnesses may trigger a condition called heterochromia, where the two eyes end up different colors. In some cases, only part of the iris loses its pigment following injury or due to disease.
An accident, detached retina, tumor, glaucoma, or other eye health issue can impair melanin producing cells or their pathways. This disruption in melanin production may make part or all of a brown iris appear blue or gray. Depending on the extent, one brown eye may even end up appearing partly blue while the other remains its original color.
Medications
Some medicines have been documented as occasionally interfering with melanin production, metabolism, or density. The change in pigment can lead to heterochromia or make eyes lighter.
Certain drugs used for immune disorders, skin pigment conditions, and ocular hypertension may have melanin-reducing side effects in some individuals. Since the drug reaction is temporary, the eye color change typically reverses once people stop the medication.
Intentional Pigment Reduction
In rare circumstances, people intentionally undergo procedures to reduce the melanin in their irises and create a color change. Using laser light or chemical whitening, cosmetic eye color changing treatments break down pigment to shift brown eyes toward blue or green.
However, there are safety concerns about the effectiveness and risks. Many medical professionals advise against attempting to alter natural eye color for cosmetic reasons given the threat of side effects like vision impairment.
The Takeaway: Brown Eyes Don’t Naturally Become Blue
In summary, while brown eyes turning completely blue rarely happens, there are some valid reasons why brown eyes often look less dark brown and develop hints of blue as people age or due to environmental factors. The processes involve a loss of visible melanin pigment but don’t fundamentally change the genetically programmed amount.
True changes from brown to blue do not naturally occur. The basic genetics of eye color are set at birth and remain constant through your lifetime. But the expression of that fixed melanin content can be altered in ways that make brown eyes appear lighter. The shade may change over time, but the DNA programming that determines pigment levels does not.
With factors like sun damage and aging, brown eyes commonly start to show more grayish-blue flecks or take on a lighter, hazel appearance. However, the underlying genetic recipe that makes eyes brown from birth remains unchanged within the cells.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Trauma Change Your Eye Color?
Injury or trauma to the eye can sometimes impair melanin producing cells and change eye color. However, this is rare. Most of the time, trauma does not significantly alter genetics or pigment enough to turn brown eyes blue. But it may be possible to develop segmental heterochromia where part of the iris loses melanin and color after injury.
Will My Baby’s Eye Color Change?
It is common for babies born with blue or gray eyes to develop brown eyes within the first three years of life as melanin levels increase. However, brown or green eyed babies do not change to become blue eyed later on. The eye color they are born with is set based on genetics.
What Causes Red Eye in Photos?
Cameras use flash that reflects off the blood-rich retina in the back of the eye. This creates the common red eye effect. It does not indicate any eye health problem and does not persist after the photo flash is gone. Adjusting flash positions can prevent red eye in pictures.
Can You Naturally Change Eye Color?
There is no scientifically proven way for someone to naturally change their innate eye color that is set at birth by genetics. Some colored contacts and lifestyle claims about changing diet or environment are not substantiated. Iris color may fluctuate in shade but basic genetics cannot be altered by natural means.
Does Melanin Affect Eye Color?
Yes, melanin is the primary determining factor for eye color. The amount and type of melanin pigment in the iris is what leads to shades of brown, blue, green, and other hues based on genetic programming. Higher melanin levels produce darker colors.
| Eye Color | Melanin Level |
|---|---|
| Brown | High eumelanin |
| Blue | Low melanin |
| Green | Moderate melanin |
| Hazel | Moderate melanin |
Conclusion
While a distinct change from brown to blue eyes does not naturally occur, many factors can cause brown eyes to lighten and take on a grayish-blue or hazel color over a person’s lifetime. Aging, sun exposure, injuries, medications, and intentional procedures like lasering can all impact the melanin content and make brown eyes appear less brown. But the underlying DNA remains constant.
In essence, brown eyes turning blue happens rarely. The basic genetics of eye color are firmly set. But the expression of that programmed melanin content can be altered so that brown eyes seem to look more blue later in life.
