# Why are my eyes losing pigmentation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2002, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-my-eyes-losing-pigmentation/144033 "2002-12-20T15:43:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![loinburger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/db5fbb/32.png) [@loinburger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/loinburger)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-my-eyes-losing-pigmentation/144033/1 "2002-12-20T15:43:42Z")
Here’s the deal: 15 years ago my irises were pitch black, 5 years ago they were light brown, and now they’re greenish-blue (and almost appear colorless depending on the light). What the dillio? I’ve heard that the eyes of infants will often start out blue and change color within a few weeks of birth, but I’ve never heard of anybody’s eyes changing color twenty or thirty years down the road – I’d always thought that eye color was determined by genetics, i.e. that it was pretty much fixed. I haven’t suffered from any exotic ocular disease to the best of my knowledge… ---
**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-my-eyes-losing-pigmentation/144033/2 "2002-12-20T16:14:09Z")
There can be many causes of this. I am not a doctor but when I was taking biology classes in college the prof said that the browner the eyes the more fat that was in them. This is what he said gave the color to them. He said blue eyes have significantly less fat than brown eyes and green eyes have a medium amount of fat. The presence or absence of the fat was genetically determined. On a side note, David Bowie has a different color eye from an injury. It turned from brown to blue. ---
**Author:** ![loinburger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/db5fbb/32.png) [@loinburger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/loinburger)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-my-eyes-losing-pigmentation/144033/3 "2002-12-20T18:00:11Z")
Alright, that explanation makes sense – my genes haven’t up and changed, it’s just that for whatever reason my eyes are losing their fat content (which wouldn’t necessarily require a genetic change to happen). Maybe I should switch to whole milk… ---
**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-my-eyes-losing-pigmentation/144033/4 "2002-12-20T18:30:24Z")
The problem is that if your eyes are losing fat, we don’t really know why. I would go to a doctor about it just to be on the safe side. It could be something really drastic or nothing at all. ---
**Author:** ![loinburger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/db5fbb/32.png) [@loinburger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/loinburger)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-my-eyes-losing-pigmentation/144033/5 "2002-12-20T18:59:53Z")
Yeah, I was planning on asking the doctor about it at my semi-annual physical. I figured that this has been going on for 15-odd years, so it wouldn’t really hurt to hold off for another couple months. ---
**Author:** ![mrbuddylee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@mrbuddylee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrbuddylee)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-my-eyes-losing-pigmentation/144033/6 "2002-12-20T19:07:50Z")
Well, somewhat semi related, my eyes change color depending on my surroundings. They go from being brown to green to blue, to a greyish color. It’s probably not related to what you’re talking about, but I don’t have anything better to add to the conversation. Sorry.