Everyone's Eye Color is Changing
I have a new nephew, and his mom and I are crossing our fingers that his gorgeous green eyes stay that same shade for – well, for the rest of his life. But in my experience with my 13 younger cousins I find it pretty unlikely that he won’t end up with light brown eyes like the rest of us. This got me to thinking, what dictates eye color? And what makes it change in infants – and sometimes even in young adults? It turns out that eye color develops with the addition of two pigments, melanin and lipochrome, into the retina. Along with eye color, melanin also gives skin color – which is why a little baby starts to get color (mostly noticeable in their face) a couple days to weeks after they’re born - and hair color. It turns out that when small amounts of melanin are produced (**melanin is not believed to be produced by the body at birth, which is why babies have bluish/grayish eyes for the first couple of weeks) and absorbed by the iris it creates light blue; more melanin subsequently gives way to blue, green, hazel, and brown eyes. A quick look into the development of eye color brought up the elective procedure to change ones eye color as an adult via laser surgery on the iris. While this procedure is purely cosmetic and not yet FDA approved, I think that, should this procedure prove effective, it could become wildly popular within the American public. The problem with this procedure, however, is that they are not fully aware of the side effects. Changing a person’s eye color involves a laser surgery that releases concentrations of melanin from the iris – but where does it go? According to Dr. Larry Benjamin, no one is really sure just yet. Dr. Gregg Homer claims that the laser alters melanin so that the body recognizes it as foreign and digests the pigment at a chemical level. But what if it doesn’t? The movement of melanin from the iris to the aqueous humor – the jelly like substance that supports the lens of the eye – is called pigment dispersion syndrome, and it can lead to glaucoma if/when those pigment particles clog the drainage canals and put pressure on the eye – eventually damaging the optic nerve. Ironically, this is a disorder that is treated through laser therapy to open up the drainage system in the eye to release any blockage. Other possible side effects associated with this procedure could include sharpness of vision and sensitivity to light – as the iris, the part of the eye that contains melanin, is what allows the pupil to constrict and dilate in response to changes in light. Despite these concerns, Dr. Homer is confident that within the next 18 months this procedure will become popular and approved in the United States, and I can’t say I disagree. Would you spend 5,000$ to change your brown eyes to blue?
"Pigment Dispersion Syndrome and Pigmentary Glaucoma." Glaucoma Research Foundation. Glaucoma Research Foundation, 7 Mar. 2011. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.glaucoma.org/glaucoma/pigment-dispersion-syndrome-and-pigmentary-glaucoma.php>.
Montgomery O.D., Ted M. "Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathology of the Human Eye - The Iris." TedMontgomery.com: a Varied and Informative Website. 2011. Web. 27 Nov. 2011. <http://www.tedmontgomery.com/the_eye/iris.html>.
View, Google Street. "New Procedure Would Turn Your Brown Eyes Blue : Discovery News." Discovery News: Earth, Space, Tech, Animals, History, Adventure, Human, Autos. Discovery Channel, 8 Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://news.discovery.com/human/eye-color-change-111108.html>.
With this treatment it would allow the individual to alter the color of their iris only from the brown to blue? This is due to the metabolism of the pigment melanin, seeing that blue eyes just have a lower concentration of melanin. Do you know if there is any research on possibly adding the pigment lipochrome to the an eye in attempt to create that ambery/golden eye color?
ReplyDeleteNice article! I cannot deny that I haven't thought about how cool it would be to have green eyes.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I would have to agree with you that I cant disagree with this procedure. Even though the side effects aren't known but may include glaucoma or light sensitivity, there are plenty of other cosmetic procedures that aren't "necessary" and also have side effects. Some for example include breast augmentation, botox, face lift, and the list goes on.
Botox involves injecting the bacterium that causes botulism. symptoms including muscle paralysis which can lead to death!! of course Botox is injected in a localized area and very rarely can become systemic, botox seems to me like a riskier procedure than this iris change procedure.
This post reminded me of something I saw on the Tyra Show a while back. Shenise Farrell from the United Kingdom wanted to permanently enhance her eye color from brown to blue. She came across a company called New Color Iris on the Internet. The operation consisted of an insertion of a colored lens into the eye, over the iris. Opticians advised her not to go ahead with the procedure, but Farrell disregarded their advice and flew in Panama for the operation. Soon after her surgery, she experienced pain and blurred vision. When she returned to the UK, surgeons had to remove the implants and repair a hole in her iris to save her vision. From 2002 to 2009, over 600 operations were performed through this company with few complaints.
ReplyDeleteI feel like media promotes the idea that colorful eyes are more beautiful than brown eyes. I teach a media literacy class after school to a group of middle school students. When I asked my students if they would pay $5000 for a permanent eye color surgery, 60% of them said they would. If Dr. Homer’s procedure succeeds, I think this procedure will become popular not only in the United States, but internationally as well.
Farrell's Story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1209836/Woman-travelled-Panama-operation-turn-brown-eyes-blue--blinded.html
Your post made me think about my horse's eye color and how horses are very different from humans when it comes to the iris changing color. Eye color is mainly dictated by coat color, and unlike humans, the color of eyes they are born with is the color they will be for the rest of their life. Horses also only can only have either blue or brown eyes, green is rare and very unheard of and if a horse is born with green eyes,more often than not they will darken to brown. We have been fortunate enough to obtain a buckskin foal this year with green eyes, and oddly enough he has retained this green color when his genes code for brown eyes. The article just made me think about differences in melanocytes and what dictates color among different species.
ReplyDeleteThe post also got me thinking about the genetics and melanin differences in heterochromia, or different colored eyes. I know it is common in dogs like Siberian Huskies and horses due to inbreeding, but I wonder if this procedure would raise an interest in individuals with heterochromia, which I think is unfortunate because I think having different colored eyes is so unique and beautiful, it would be a shame to say thats incorrect. In a society so wrapped up in doing anything to make them more "beautiful", I think if this procedure does get approved,even though i do think it is an interesting procedure, and like most people have pondered what it would be like to have different colored eyes, I believe it will do more harm than good to basic human values.
This post reminded me of my friend who has one blue eye with a brown spot and one brown eye with a blue spot. I have always wondered why her eyes developed this way.
ReplyDeleteShe has a somewhat rare autosomal dominant genetic condition known as congenital heterochromia. Heterochromia is when the iris of one eye is a different color than the iris of the other eye. She also has sectoral heterochromia which is when one part of the iris is a different color than the rest of the iris.
Heterochromia can arise from mosaicism, disease, or injury. In her case I think it is a direct result of genetic mosaicism. Mosaicism is when an individual has tissues that originated from two different cell lines with differing genotypes. It is also possible that different alleles of the same gene are being expressed differently changing the concentration and distribution of melanin in different parts of her iris.