# Eye color **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 6, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eye-color/302704 "2005-05-06T15:53:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sikaydah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Sikaydah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sikaydah)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eye-color/302704/1 "2005-05-06T15:53:30Z")
My mother and I got to talking about the genetic oddities in our family the other day, and the subject of eyes came up. Can anybody tell me what causes some people to have a brown ring around their pupil? And is this ever seen in men? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eye-color/302704/2 "2005-05-06T15:59:47Z")
No idea what causes it, but my father had hazel eyes (green with brown flecks) complete with the little ring. ---
**Author:** ![Sikaydah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Sikaydah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sikaydah)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eye-color/302704/3 "2005-05-06T16:07:11Z")
So guys have it too? I 've honestly never met any with it. ALL the women in my family have it. ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eye-color/302704/4 "2005-05-06T16:18:25Z")
I have the aforementioned brown ring but neither of my parents do. Leads me to believe it’s probably just a recessive gene re: eye color. Yeah Punnet Squares! ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eye-color/302704/5 "2005-05-06T16:19:31Z")
> [@Sikaydah](#): > > So guys have it too? I 've honestly never met any with it. ALL the women in my family have it. And I’m male, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eye-color/302704/6 "2005-05-06T16:29:06Z")
My 3-year-old son has that. It was so weird, when he was a baby, and we thought his eyes would continue to get brown until they were totally brown…and then it just stopped as a brown ring and gray around that. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eye-color/302704/7 "2005-05-06T16:29:45Z")
I knew a man who had a pale blue ring around the whole colored (dark brown) portion of his eyes. I know another who has black flecks at the bottom of both irises (his eyes are light brown). ---
**Author:** ![Sikaydah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Sikaydah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sikaydah)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eye-color/302704/8 "2005-05-06T16:34:49Z")
Cool. Thanks y’all. ---
**Author:** ![Sikaydah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Sikaydah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sikaydah)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eye-color/302704/9 "2005-05-06T16:36:08Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > My 3-year-old son has that. It was so weird, when he was a baby, and we thought his eyes would continue to get brown until they were totally brown…and then it just stopped as a brown ring and gray around that. My mom started with plain blue eyes, but around the sixth grade they turned green with a brown ring ---
**Author:** ![TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoneyKingofNowhere)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eye-color/302704/10 "2005-05-06T19:19:50Z")
I’ve got hazel eyes, with a section of redish-brown in my right eye. Picture a pie chart, where, say 93% of the chart is green, and 7% is red. Occasionally, people I meet, or even people I’ve known for many many years, will look at me funny and say, “hey, man, your eye is bleeding!”