# Different colours through different eyes **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2001, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-colours-through-different-eyes/92655 "2001-11-10T18:29:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-colours-through-different-eyes/92655/1 "2001-11-10T18:29:57Z")
No, this isn’t the “If I see red, do you see the same colour” thread… I’m talking about my own eyes. If I close one eye, and look at something, it has a slightly different tinge to it than if I do the same with the other eye. My left eye seems to see things as slightly blue, while my right eye sees more red. Is this a common thing? My SO claims he has no idea what I’m talking about (quite adamantly, after I spent 30 minutes last night making him close one eye, then the next, and tell me what colour things are…). Does this happen to anyone else? If so, what might explain it? I thought maybe it had to do with wavelengths and where the light source is, but no matter how I turn my head, the left eye sees blue and the right sees red. I tried a seach, but kept coming up with the above mentioned threads, so I figured I’d just ask. Sorry if this has been asked before :). ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-colours-through-different-eyes/92655/2 "2001-11-10T18:36:26Z")
I’ve got the same thing going on with my eyes. I think it is not uncommon. (This has come up here before, and other posters have chimed in.) ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-colours-through-different-eyes/92655/3 "2001-11-10T18:37:38Z")
I see the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-colours-through-different-eyes/92655/4 "2001-11-10T18:41:26Z")
Exposing one eye to a bright light source for a few minutes can accentuate the effect. That could be due to visual purple formation in just one eye. You can also induce changes in the hue of things by staring at a monochrome monitor too long, or exerting pressure on one eye. There are probably several different causes for the phenomena. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-colours-through-different-eyes/92655/5 "2001-11-10T18:49:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Squink \* > \*\*Exposing one eye to a bright light source for a few minutes can accentuate the effect. That could be due to visual purple formation in just one eye. You can also induce changes in the hue of things by staring at a monochrome monitor too long, or exerting pressure on one eye. There are probably several different causes for the phenomena. \*\* I don’t think external factors are at work here, **Squink**. I have the “different hues” thing going from the moment I wake up in the morning. On more than one occasion, I have awakened, looked out the window at the sky, and by alternate blinking noticed that the sky was two slightly different shades of blue, depending on which eye I was using. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-colours-through-different-eyes/92655/6 "2001-11-10T19:10:57Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t think external factors are at work here, Squink. I have the “different hues” thing going from the moment I wake up in the morning. You may well be right; in at least some cases. I’ve noticed the difference in hues upon waking but have always attributed it to the different pressure put on each eyeball by sleeping on one side. Don’t migraines also cause color disturbances ? I suppose that would qualify as completely internal. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-colours-through-different-eyes/92655/7 "2001-11-10T20:55:26Z")
I thought I had this too once; I was sunbathing and I noticed that the towel on which I was lying seemed cobalt blue when I looked at it through one eye only, but purple when I used the other eye. It turned out to be nothing more than the way I had been lying; one eye was exposed to the sunlight (which, through my eyelid, was a deep red colour), the other eye had been in darkness. The human visual system has what is the equivalent of ‘white balance’ on video cameras; if you are somewhere where the light source is slightly yellowish (like with incandescent lamps), your vision will adjust so that you still see a piece of white paper as white, but it can also trick you into seeing the wrong colours; if wear deeply red-tinted goggles for an hour, everything looks bluish when you take them off. But if you’re experiencing colour disparity all the time, rather than as a temporary phenomenon when lighting changes, then it’s probably little to do with the above. ---
**Author:** ![Church\_Key\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Church\_Key\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Church_Key_Kid)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-colours-through-different-eyes/92655/8 "2001-11-10T21:39:23Z")
I think the tints are actually green and red, not blue and red. You can see an example of this on most TV’s. The color options allow you to adjust the tint from greenish to reddish (most of the time, you want it in between.) In a 2 second experiment, I have concluded that my left eye views things more green, and my right eye views things more red. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-colours-through-different-eyes/92655/9 "2001-11-10T21:53:38Z")
IT amy be more green, but I call it blue. I think that goes in all those other threads, though… 🙂 **Mangetout** I _think_ it’s something thats pretty constant with me, but I don’t spend that much time testing it, because then I really start to see wacky colours, with both eyes. I know that I have noticed it in the past (at least a couple years ago - I remember noticing it in school once, and at home another time), and it’s the same today as it is yesterday. Even right now, and I’ve been up all day, have had no migraines, and haven’t been exposed to light from only one side all day. Although actually, right now, the left eye is seeing red, and the right seeing blue (green), and the light source is currently on the same side of me as it was last night when the inverse was occuring. I just think it’s weird. ---
**Author:** ![CandyBoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@CandyBoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandyBoi)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-colours-through-different-eyes/92655/10 "2001-11-10T22:09:06Z")
I get that too… ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-colours-through-different-eyes/92655/11 "2001-11-10T23:41:36Z")
This may be due differences in the lens or corneas due to damage or natural variation. As we age, our color perception changes due to changes in the cornea. The reason blue-haired old ladies have blue hair is not because they think it’s fashionable; their color perception has yellow shifted with age and they think their hair is blonde. Perhaps you had an injury or exposure on one side that changed your eye in the same way age does. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-colours-through-different-eyes/92655/12 "2001-11-11T02:43:55Z")
I have this-- I think I first noticed it when fairly young, and it hasn’t changed. Works well when looking at a white wall. I believe my right eye that sees things “warmer” and my left “cooler”. I think I remember posting to the older thread- -I should look to see whether I noted which eye was which at that time and see if it has changed. . . ---
**Author:** ![Lao\_Tzu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Lao\_Tzu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lao_Tzu)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-colours-through-different-eyes/92655/13 "2001-11-11T12:10:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by capybara \* > \*\*I believe my right eye that sees things “warmer” and my left “cooler”. \*\* **Capybara** is on to something. In Chinese cosmology, the left side of the body is the Yin (feminine) side, while the right is the Yang (masculine) side. Yin qualities include coolness and the color blue, while Yang qualities are warmth and the color red. … “If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is - infinite.” – William Blake