# Question about eye color. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 13, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764 "2008-06-13T03:22:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pithy\_Moniker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8dc957/32.png) [@Pithy\_Moniker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pithy_Moniker)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/21 "2008-06-14T10:49:04Z")
[QUOTE=lobotomyboy63] [![](https://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c222/rhythmace/IMG_0004.jpg) ](https://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c222/rhythmace/IMG_0004.jpg) [/QUOTE] Lots of interesting sounding eye colors in this thread. We need more pics! [My brown and green eyes.](http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa257/PithyMoniker/eye.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/22 "2008-06-14T13:15:43Z")
[QUOTE=lobotomyboy63] If I were to change my screen name, my new one would be “According to Wikipedia…” > **[Eye color](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_color)** > > Eye color is a polygenic phenotypic trait determined by two factors: the pigmentation of the eye's iris and the frequency-dependence of the scattering of light by the turbid medium in the stroma of the iris.: 9  > In humans, the pigmentation of the iris varies from light brown to black, depending on the concentration of melanin in the iris pigment epithelium (located on the back of the iris), the melanin content within the iris stroma (located at the front of the iris), and the cellular density... [/QUOTE] Nice wiki link … however do NOT click on the link to uveitis \ ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/23 "2008-06-14T13:49:06Z")
[QUOTE=aruvqan] Nice wiki link … however do NOT click on the link to uveitis \ [/QUOTE] Don’t tell _me_ what not to do! [clicks] **GAAHHH, WHY DIDN’T YOU WARN ME?!?!?!?!** :eek: Speaking of eye color, anybody else think that colored contacts make people look unnatural? Maybe I’ve seen low quality ones or something but they just don’t look right. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/24 "2008-06-14T13:55:06Z")
My default eye color is “brown”, but it shifts. Looking at the images that correspond with the Wikipedia definitions of eye color, I have the base tone of the brown, but the color detailing of the amber in many situations, and then my eyes turn a very dark, murky green in certain periods of emotion. I generally go with “brown”, but at the same time, none of these color definitions are accurate descriptors of my eye color. Strangely enough, the [heterochromia image](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Heterochromia.jpg) shown fairly accurately depicts the opposite ends of my range; the major difference is that the “green” on the right hand side is significantly lighter than the green that my eyes turn. ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/25 "2008-06-14T14:42:09Z")
[QUOTE=Pithy Moniker] Lots of interesting sounding eye colors in this thread. We need more pics! [/QUOTE] I can provide one if someone can host it. I don’t like signing up for online hosting services, even the free ones. My eyes are blue-ringed around the outside, green in the middle and then at the very centre they’re yellow. It can look quite malevolent if my pupils are small enough. (Interestingly, you can pretty much chart my fertility cycle - particularly the pre-menstrual Angry Woman part - by my eye colour\*…) The overall effect can range anywhere between green, blue-green, greyish, yellow-green, yellow. Mostly they’re green. I had a photo taken a few weeks ago that captured them showing 3 colours, but the effect is kind of bland. On the whole, it’s better when they decide on a single colour for the day. \*\* Green = go, yellow = go away (before I keeel you).\* ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/26 "2008-06-14T14:46:02Z")
email to me if you like and I can post. Any rules against posting our email address or is that what the link on my profile will take you to? Same as screen name @yahoo.com ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/27 "2008-06-15T10:54:44Z")
Thanks, **lobotomyboy63**. I’ve emailed you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/28 "2008-06-15T13:42:09Z")
No problem, Bites. Here it is…Bites’ eye! [![](https://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c222/rhythmace/Image2.jpg) ](https://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c222/rhythmace/Image2.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/29 "2008-06-15T17:33:40Z")
[This is my eye, here.](http://flickr.com/photos/21142502@N07/2580442053/) I guess that’d be described as hazel (though I’m stubborn and think hazel should only be applied to the yellowy brown color it stands for in non-eye speak)? Would the outer color look more grey, would you say? Kinda looks like metal that’s rusted badly, heh. If you just glance at my eyes they’ll look green, though. I love using purple shadows because I can really make them POP that way. (I like that I took it on a really bright day, so you can see the reflection of me taking the picture _in my eye_. It looks like there’s someone holding my pupil like a globe!). ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/30 "2008-06-16T01:25:01Z")
Me too. My eyes are blue, but can range from teal to gray depending upon mood, lighting and what I’m wearing. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/31 "2008-06-16T04:48:29Z")
I have seen someone’s eyes change colour right before my… eyes. They were surprised by something, and their pupils dilated, causing the iris’s moire pattern of the fibrous looking tissue that make them up to shift in their blend, making them become a different shade of green. I don’t really know how eyes are assembled, so some of the aforementioned is my own guesswork. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/32 "2008-06-16T13:57:48Z")
When I was a kid my eyes were very dark brown. As an adult they’ve changed to hazel. They still can appear light brown in certain light but brighter lights show streaks of blue and green in the iris. These were not visible as a child. I don’t have access to a camera right now (i’m at work) or else I’d show ya. ---
**Author:** ![Pithy\_Moniker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8dc957/32.png) [@Pithy\_Moniker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pithy_Moniker)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/33 "2008-06-16T15:31:42Z")
[QUOTE=zweisamkeit] [This is my eye, here.](http://flickr.com/photos/21142502@N07/2580442053/) [/QUOTE] It’s interesting to see how many eyes follow the brown in the center, green/grey on the outside. All sorts of variations on it. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/34 "2008-06-16T15:35:51Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Same here! I say gray for that since it seems neutral. But they’re really grayish/greenish/bluish. [/QUOTE] Right over here. Birth certificate says blue, driver’s license says grey. Really, neither or both. If i have been crying, they are definitely blue. But sometimes green. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/35 "2008-06-16T20:59:24Z")
Both my daughters go from various shades of blue to grays, to sometimes green. The older one a little more than the younger, but you’d be hard pressed to pick a color for either of them. It bugs the older one’s boyfriend a bit. They keep changing and he never quite knows what to expect. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764.md?page=1)