How Rare Are Grey Blue Eyes?
Pieter Maas
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Human eyes come in many colors — brown, blue, green, hazel, amber, and even violet or gray eyes. Gray eye color is one of the loveliest and most uncommon, a trait shared by only 3% of the world’s population, The color and intensity of gray eyes varies from person to person and can include dark gray, gray-green and gray-blue.
Eye color actually refers to the color of the iris, a ring of tissue that surrounds the pupil, The pupil is an opening at the center of the iris that appears black, while the white part of your eye is called the sclera, The color of the iris depends on the presence of a brown pigment called melanin, the same pigment that determines skin color and hair color.
Eyes with a lot of melanin are darker, and eyes with less melanin are blue, green, hazel, amber or gray. NOTE: You may see references to “grey” rather than “gray” eyes, but it’s the same eye color. “Gray” is simply the preferred spelling in American English, while “grey” is the British English spelling used primarily in the U.K.
Do you have gray eyes? |
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Just as gray hair has become an increasingly popular trend (both treated and natural), gray eyes are rare and coveted. This unique eye color is only present in 3% of the population. So bat those gorgeous grays with pride, and make certain you take care of them with routine eye exams. People with light-colored eyes, like gray, are more sensitive to the sun and are more likely to develop a rare eye cancer called ocular melanoma. If it’s been a while, schedule an exam with an eye doctor today. |
Are grey blue eyes a thing?
Posted by Eye Doctors of Washington in General Eye Care When someone wants to enhance their vision, they may try contact lenses or seek out LASIK eye surgery, But what if they want to change the color of their eyes? People have long been fascinated with eye color; after all, eyes come in a wide range of shades. The colored part of the eye is called the iris. The iris has pigmentation that determines the eye color. Irises are classified as being one of six colors: amber, blue, brown, gray, green, hazel, or red. Often confused with hazel eyes, amber eyes tend to be a solid golden or copper color without flecks of blue or green typical of hazel eyes. Blue eyes have a low level of pigment present in the iris. Recently, scientists announced that everyone with blue eyes is related! Because of various racial groups intermarrying, blue eyes, which are generally recessive, are becoming rarer and rarer. (Note: I recently asked my blue-eyed in-laws how they produced my amber-eyed spouse, incorrectly telling them it was genetically impossible. Brown is the most common eye color. Individuals with brown eyes have more melanin present, and over half of the people in the world have brown eyes. Gray eyes may be called “blue” at first glance, but they tend to have flecks of gold and brown. And they may appear to “change color” from gray to blue to green depending on clothing, lighting, and mood (which may change the size of the pupil, compressing the colors of the iris). Green is the least common eye color, but it is found most frequently in northern and central Europe. I have always incorrectly called this color eye hazel! Hazel eyes mostly consist of shades of brown and green. Much like gray eyes, hazel eyes may appear to “change color” from green to light brown to gold. Individuals whose eyes appear to be one color closest to the pupil, another color a little farther our, and another color around the edge of the iris are likely to have hazel eyes. Red eyes do exist. “Red?” you say. “Yes, red,” I say, although we often call them pink. Picture white bunnies with pink eyes. What you’re actually seeing in these rabbits and in albinos is the blood vessels behind the iris. Because there is so little melanin in the eyes, there is nothing to conceal the blood vessels hard at work. If you’re dissatisfied with your eye color for whatever reason, there are always colored contacts. Just be sure to get a prescription for them from your eye doctor at Eye Doctors of Washington, Don’t buy them online or borrow them from a friend—you’d just be begging for an eye infection. Contact Us
What do grey blue eyes mean?
Causes of Gray Eyes – When eyes have a dark iris, it means your eyes have plenty of melanin. If you have gray eyes, the front layer of the iris has less melanin than the back layer, so external light passes through, and the back layer reflects it. The reflection causes a cloud in the stroma, which may manifest as a gray, blue, or green iris.
Are blue or grey eyes more rare?
Other eye colors – If you’ve been doing the math, you already know that these colors only add up to 99%. What about the other 1%? There are a few unique colors, and combinations of colors, that make up this group: the rarest of the rare. Some people may group gray eyes (also spelled grey eyes) with blue eyes.
Their low melanin content is similar, but in fact, gray irises are significantly more rare than standard blue eyes. If you look closely, you might even spot streaks of brown, amber and gold within the gray. Even less common is a condition called heterochromia — different colored eyes. It’s usually the result of a harmless genetic mutation, but it can also be caused by underlying disorders and injuries.
People who have albinism lack most or all melanin, giving their skin, hair and eyes a very light appearance. This often results in light blue eyes but can rarely show as pink or pale red-colored eyes, when a complete absence of melanin causes tiny blood vessels to become visible. Page published on Saturday, September 5, 2020
Are gray eyes the rarest eye color?
Grey eyes are amongst the rarest eye colours and while many associate grey eyes with being blue, they are not quite the same despite them both having low levels of melanin. Pink and pale red eyes are also incredibly unusual eye colours and occur in people who have albinism.
Are gray blue eyes pretty?
When broken down by gender, men ranked gray, blue, and green eyes as the most attractive, while women said they were most attracted to green, hazel, and gray eyes. Despite brown eyes ranking at the bottom of our perceived attraction scale, approximately 79% of the world’s population sports melanin-rich brown eyes.
What color do grey blue eyes turn?
What color will gray baby eyes turn? At birth your baby’s eyes may appear gray or blue due to a lack of pigment. Once exposed to light, the eye color will most likely start to change to blue, green, hazel, or brown over a period of six months to one year.
What personality do grey eyes have?
Grey – When it comes to rules, people with grey eyes tend to see in black and white. These people are often great leaders. They have a strong nature and remain strong when facing external pressure. Grey eyed guys and gals are calm, organized, and keep to themselves. Their eye color may not be bright and vibrant, but they fall in love and stay extremely loyal.
Are gray eyes attractive?
What’s rare is attractive. – 1-800-Contacts recently conducted a survey of 1,000 people in order to figure out people’s perceptions of eye color and what these different color preferences can reveal about us. One of the study’s main findings was that gray eyes are both the rarest and the statistically most attractive eye color, with hazel and green following closely behind.
- Conversely, brown eyes are the most common color yet the least attractive to the survey’s respondents.
- According to World Atlas, approximately 79% of the world’s population has brown eyes, making it the most common eye color in the world.
- After brown comes the blue-eyed crowd, with 8% to 10% of the world having blue eyes, 5% having amber or hazel eyes, and 2% of the world having green eyes.
Statistically speaking, the rarest eye colors are gray and red/violet, and this novelty could be the reason gray eyes ranked as the most popular color among survey participants. “It makes sense that the rarer colors tend to be more captivating,” clinical psychologist Carla Marie Manly, Ph.D.
Explains in an interview with mbg. “Rooted in primitive survival mechanisms, the human mind—and the human eye—tends to notice that which is different and unique.” According to Manly, this tendency came from the need to notice that which was “different” in the environment in order to ascertain if the novel item or experience was safe or unsafe.
Throughout evolution, she says, we’ve retained this interest in that which is novel. And though in some cases that which is novel is considered a detriment in others—such as a different eye color—it can also be considered interesting or attractive.
How do people get grey eyes?
Gray – Close to 3% of the world’s population have gray eyes. People with gray eyes have little or no melanin in their irises, but they have more collagen in a part of the eye called the stroma. The light scatters off the collagen in a way that makes the eyes appear gray.
What race usually has grey eyes?
What Causes Grey Eyes? Are They Rare? – Grey eyes are one of the rarest eye colors. Less than 3% of the global population has grey eyes. They’re most commonly found in people of Northern and Eastern European ancestry.8 Like all eye colors, they’re a product of the amount of melanin in the iris,
People with light-colored eyes have very little melanin compared to those with brown-colored eyes. Those with green or hazel eyes have less; those with blue even less; those with grey, none at all. In addition, people with grey eyes have more collagen in their stroma, a layer of their iris. This also affects how light scatters and is what causes their eyes to appear grey rather than blue.
A person’s genes determine how much melanin they have in their iris. There are at least 16 different genes that influence eye color. Scientists are still studying exactly how these genes all interact with each other.
What color do grey eyes turn into?
Baby eye colour progression – Eye colour starts to change in baby’s, says Kirsten North, an optometrist in Ottawa. “I’d say by nine to 12 months, for the majority of babies this colour is locked in. In a minority of kids, though, eye colour can keep getting darker up until age five or six.” As melanin is added to the iris, the colour changes from blue or grey to green or hazel, and then brown, she says.
Which is rarer grey or green eyes?
What’s the Rarest Eye Color, and Why? Juliet White / Getty Images At some point, you’ve probably wondered what the rarest eye color is. The answer is green, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). Only about 2 percent of the world’s population sport this shade.
- As to why, that answer isn’t so simple.
- We used to think only one gene determined eye color,” says Julie Kaplan, M.D., a physician at the Center for Personalized Genetic Healthcare at the Cleveland Clinic.
- In high school biology class, for example, you probably learned that brown was dominant and blue was recessive, so two blue-eyed parents would not be able to have a baby with brown eyes.
The truth, however, is a bit more complicated, Kaplan notes.
Are grey eyes more sensitive?
Are People With Blue Eyes More Sensitive to Light? – The pigmented epithelium (protective tinting) in your eyes can be viewed when looking at the color part of your eye known as the iris. Differences in iris color can be related to experiencing more or less light sensitivity than someone else.
- Generally speaking, patients with lighter color irises, such as blue or gray, experience more light sensitivity than someone with brown eyes.
- The density of pigment in light eyes is less than that of a darker colored iris.
- When light hits a dark-colored iris, the higher density in pigment blocks the light rays.
This is similar to how a pair of sunglasses blocks light. When light hits a lighter colored iris, more light is transmitted through to the back of the eye resulting in more light sensitivity. Additionally, the pigment in the back of the eye (retina) may also be less dense in a patient with lighter colored eyes, thus resulting in even more light sensitivity.
Are grey or blue eyes more sensitive?
SAD and your eye colour – We have uncovered evidence that a person’s eye colour can have a direct effect on how susceptible they are to SAD. Our study used a sample of 175 students from two universities (one in south Wales, the other in Cyprus). We found that people with light or blue eyes scored significantly lower on the seasonal pattern assessment questionnaire than those with dark or brown eyes.
These results agree with previous research which found that brown or dark-eyed people were significantly more depressed than those with blue eyes. The reason that eye colour may make some people more susceptible to depression or mood changes might be because of the amount of light an individual’s eyes can process.
The retina is the part of our eyeball containing cells that are sensitive to light. When light enters the eye, these cells trigger nerve impulses that form a visual image in our brain. In 1995, scientists discovered that some retinal cells, rather than forming an image, simply send information about levels of brightness from the back of the eye to the brain’s hypothalamus.
- The hypothalamus is an important part of the brain which secretes hormones (such as oxytocin) that regulate temperature, hunger and sleep cycles.
- As the amount of blue and green light reaching the hypothalamus increases, the amount of melatonin decreases.
- Eyes with lower pigment (blue or grey eyes) are more sensitive to light.
This means they don’t need to absorb as much light as brown or dark eyes before this information reaches the retinal cells. As such, people with lighter eyes release less melatonin during the fall and winter. This mechanism might provide light-eyed people with some resilience to seasonal affective disorder (though a smaller proportion may still experience SAD).
Two theories have traditionally been used to explain why blue eyes occur in Western populations living farther from the equator. First, it might be seen as more attractive to the opposite sex, so it might provide a reproductive advantage, Second, blue eyes may be a side effect of the same mutation that causes lighter skin colour.
This mutation evolved because it helps the body make more vitamin D from the sun’s ultra-violet light in parts of the world that receive less radiation, especially during the winter. But given that blue-eyed people in our study reported lower levels of SAD than their brown-eyed counterparts, this mutation may have occurred as an “anti-SAD” adaptation as a result of the considerable variations in light exposure that our prehistoric ancestors experienced as they migrated to northerly latitudes.
Eye colour is, of course, not the only factor here. People who spend too long indoors are also more susceptible to both winter blues and full-blown SAD. Fortunately for those with SAD, simply going outside for a regular walk, especially at times when it’s sunny, will help improve their mood. If that doesn’t work, “phototherapy”, which involves sitting in front of a light box for an hour daily, could also help.
People I have advised to use these methods (whether brown or blue eyed) almost invariably have reported a noticeable improvement. However, people with SAD are advised to consult a GP regardless, especially if their symptoms do not improve, or if the condition becomes difficult to manage. Lance Workman, Visiting Professor in Psychology, University of South Wales, This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article,
What do grey eyes say about you?
Top Traits: –
- Friendly
- Smart
- Relationship Orientated
- Full of Energy
- Caring
Celebrities with grey eyes: Pink, Kelly Stables, Erin Andrews, Heather Graham, Alicia Silverstone. What grey is associated with: Intelligence, Secure, Trust, Sophisticated, Glamour. If you have grey eyes, you tend to be gentle, friendly and approachable by nature.
You also may find you are rather neat and tidy, however you don’t fuss too much over it. Out of all they eye colours, most tend to confide in you grey eyes beauties and therefore tend to be very trust worthy and a great listener! This helps you build great connection with your friends and family and makes you a great partner as you are understanding and calm.
You tend to [refer a smaller group of friends than a larger group and your friends enjoy your company and personality. You take your friendships, relationships and work life seriously which can become stressful for you, try to ease the stress so you can enjoy yourself more.
If you have grey eyes you prefer to keep to what you know and therefore can lack adventure and don’t tend to take risks. However, you are smart, quick witted and a great problem solver. Out of all they eye colours, you tend to be the most mysterious which many find intriguing. You also have a gentle and calm nature yet still full of energy however you may find that you run away from arguments and stress rather than face it straight on due to your calm nature and tend to avoid drama.
However, this doesn’t mean you are not on-guard. Therefore, those with grey eyes may need to work on becoming more assertive in order to begin to stand your ground and have your opinion heard. We have a wide range of different styles and materials to make sure we can match everyone’s lash needs! Luxury 3D Mink Lashes – can be worn 20 – 25 wears if looked after Luxury 3D Faux Mink Lashes – vegan and can be worn 20 – 25 wears if looked after Luxury 3D Faux Mink Multi Packs – vegan, three pairs of lashes and can be worn 20 – 25 wears if looked after Synthetic Lashes – vegan and can be worn up to 20 wears if looked after.
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What percent of the population has grey blue eyes?
Gray – Close to 3% of the world’s population have gray eyes. People with gray eyes have little or no melanin in their irises, but they have more collagen in a part of the eye called the stroma. The light scatters off the collagen in a way that makes the eyes appear gray.
Where are grey blue eyes most common?
What Causes Grey Eyes? Are They Rare? – Grey eyes are one of the rarest eye colors. Less than 3% of the global population has grey eyes. They’re most commonly found in people of Northern and Eastern European ancestry.8 Like all eye colors, they’re a product of the amount of melanin in the iris,
- People with light-colored eyes have very little melanin compared to those with brown-colored eyes.
- Those with green or hazel eyes have less; those with blue even less; those with grey, none at all.
- In addition, people with grey eyes have more collagen in their stroma, a layer of their iris.
- This also affects how light scatters and is what causes their eyes to appear grey rather than blue.
A person’s genes determine how much melanin they have in their iris. There are at least 16 different genes that influence eye color. Scientists are still studying exactly how these genes all interact with each other.