Eyes changing color?

Originally Posted by Missie

Sounds like the brown spot might be blood vessels in your iris, which dilate when you're angry. My boyfriend has a brown spot in his eye (his eyes are light blue), that appeared after he had surgery on that eye. Apparently the spot was caused by the injury to his eye caused by the surgery. I don't know if it gets bigger or not in situations of stress/arousal/extreme emotion, though, I've never thought to look.

Iv never thought of that! I had an operation on that eye when I was really young! it is most likely caused by that!

My eyes change color, and no, not just from the light. Up until a few years ago I had blue eyes, but they have been getting darker. Sometimes my eyes are a dark grey, and sometimes they are dark green. When I cry my eyes turn emerald green, and often they are really light green. So yes, eyes do change color

Add me to the list of Snopesters with eyes that appear to change. The left is grayish blue with some light brown in the middle, the right is grayish green with some light brown in the middle. Both eyes have a dark grey rim around the iris.

[Zorro]

My eyes change color, or seem to, as well. It's a common phenomenon in my mother's family- I have this strange, ambiguous color (mine is mostly green, but my eyes have been known to be various shades of blue or grey as well, depending upon what I am wearing, makeup, and the light), as does my aunt, my brother, and my grandfather had it. My son seems to have inherited it as well, but it's blended with the brown eyes of my husband to create a truly odd eyecolor- sort of brown and green at the same time. I have no idea what to call it- it doesn't have any yellow tones that you'd commonly associate with hazel eyes.

[Auntie Witch]

My eyes are jade green, unless I'm very upset, and then they're bright peridot. I think it's the fact that my eyes get red, and it brings out the brighter tones.

Miss Mia's eyes were grey, and are now closer to mine, and Katarina's are this strange mossy shade that I wouldn't quite call hazel, but isn't quite green, either. I wonder if their eyes will do something similar when they're older.

[quink]

My eyes will change depending on the lighting and the colour I'm wearing. They're usually more to the green side, but will occasionally go blue and several shades of grey in between.

I've never heard of emotional colour changes, though.

[Saint James]

I've been told my eyes change color, but they've always seemed a pale green/bluish green to me. (or maybe greenish blue). Since my father, brother, and niece all have true baby blues, I consider mine green by contrast.

I wonder if some of it has to do with contrast - like in this optical illusion.. After all, as the pupil expands or contracts there is more or less area visible of the iris.

According to the almighty wiki entry on Iris (anatomy):

Among human phenotypes, Blue-Green-Grey eyes are a relatively rare eye color and the exact color is often perceived to vary according to its surroundings.

People CAN change eye color. I have met the one woman that can! She can change them from brown to gold to a greenish color while I am looking at her. At first I thought it was just the sun or the lighting. I have watched her change her colors while I was looking at her so I know it does. Scary at first but it's kind of cool after you get used to it.

[Silkenray]

In terms of blue or gray eyes going green when crying, when people cry the whites of their eyes go red (blood vessel dilation?). Green and red are complementary colors, so in context a gray or blue eye will take on a greeny tinge.

It makes perfect sense.

[Donelin]

One thing I am curious about is those of you with eyes like mine-are your eyes VERY light sensitive? I can get a migraine being outside in bright sunshine for more than about 10 mins without sunglasses.

[frogpond]

I have high photosensitivity in my eyes, and have heard that most redheads do. I'm subject to migraines and use a light blocking shade in my bedroom to keep out all the light when I have one. I also wear my sunglasses outside even on cloudy days to keep my eyes from watering.

[Latiam]

That's interesting, that you've heard most redheads do. Do you think it has something to do with the colouring? I'm very photo-sensitive, with an actual medical reason for it (my eye - not my iris, my whole eye is paler than most people's) that I discovered at my optometrist's office. I had red hair as a child, though most of it didn't stay red as I got older.
I suppose I must have blue-grey eyes, according to the article, but I was hoping it might explain why my eyes, and my mother's, and some of her ancestors', eyes get a lighter blue as we age. It must just be a genetic quirk. Maybe it's related to the pale eyeball thing.

[kismet]

That is interesting about the redhead thing.

My eyes are hazel, as are my DS's (and we are redheads). My ex (another redhead) and my DD (blonde) have blue eyes. So you would guess that the two of us with dark eyes would be less light sensitive than our blue-eyed counterparts, right? Well, my DD has the least light sensitivity, followed by ex. DS and I have VERY light-sensitive eyes. In the early morning, DD will flip a light switch and DS and I will howl in agony and she doesn't even understand.

This was true of DS when he was a baby. I fed him breakfast with the lights dimmed in the breakfast room from the moment he was eating solids, because he would shield his eyes and cry if the lights were full strength.

[mouse goddess]

I think Silkenray has the most likely explanation.

[ganzfeld]

That's a good one. Another one is that colors look completely different depending on their relative area and the iris changes dramatically in size. [I see now that St James has already mentioned this.] (I don't know if the size change is accompanied by an actual change in the color.) Just being a thick circle with a tiny black dot in the middle as opposed to a thin one with a large black part would account for most, if not all, of the difference in appearance.

That kind of illusion also easily accounts for differences in appearance depending on clothes and weather, too. I'm guessing that people who supposedly can change their eye color at will either do so when their eyes are adjusting to the light or, in rare cases, have some control over their own pupil dilation.

my eyes seem to change color. i have hazel eyes which are more on the green side then hazel. sometimes you can almost swear my eyes are yellow and in photographs they look lime green throughout. If my eyes are a little bloodshot they appear to be a solid hunter green

[Sandgroper]

Originally Posted by ganzfeld

Just being a thick circle with a tiny black dot in the middle as opposed to a thin one with a large black part would account for most, if not all, of the difference in appearance.

Sounds like the best explanation given that this is the cause of the misconception that David Bowie's eyes are different colours (in fact he has one pupil that is permanently dilated).