When a child is born, loved ones and relatives ask one question: who is the new family member like? Special attention chains the mirror of the soul - the eyes. Most fair-skinned newborns have Blue colour, and yellow-skinned or black-skinned babies may have brown hair. Later, the baby's eyes will change color.
It is laid in the womb at the 10th week of pregnancy. The pigmentation of the iris depends on the amount of melanin. The less it is contained, the lighter a person’s eyes are. Melanin in the human body serves as protection against ultraviolet rays. It begins to accumulate only after birth.
Most newborns are born with almost same color the eye is blue with a cloudy shell. This is due to the lack of melanin. After a few days the eyes become clearer. By the month of life, the cloudy color will change. Sometimes this process takes longer.
When a child's iris is formed, dark colors dominate. If one parent has light eyes and the other has brown eyes, then in 90% of cases the child will inherit brown eyes. This is why dark-eyed people predominate on the globe. Brown is the most common color, followed by blue (cyan).
There are the fewest green-eyed people on the planet. The green gene is considered the weakest and is easily degenerated. A green-eyed baby can only be born if both parents have this eye color.
Another feature of a newborn baby is the change in color of the iris during the day. This is especially noticeable in light-eyed babies. During hunger, crying and after sleep, the iris is dark blue. And before bed and during wakefulness it is much lighter. This change is typical for children under 6 months of age.
When does a newborn's eye color change?
Since the accumulation of melanin occurs gradually, the child’s eye color also does not change immediately. Until 6 months of life, the color of the iris does not change radically. In the child's life, his basic color begins to appear. And by the time you are one year old, you can already guess what eye color will be. The final accumulation of melanin will occur by the 2nd year of life. Sometimes it continues to change up to 3-5 years.
Born with blue eyes A child may become brown-eyed by the age of one year. In general, if a child initially has light eyes, then they can change several times before their final color. If the eyes are initially brown or black, then most likely they will remain that way, only the brightness of the color may change. Moreover, they can only become darker; the iris never becomes lighter.
Sometimes, due to a failure in melanin production, the eyes may have different colour. One is lighter, the other is darker. Or one is green and the other is brown. This phenomenon is called Heterochromia. The iris of one eye may also be unevenly colored. There is no serious problem with this; it all depends on the individual production of melanin.
Most likely, over time, the color of the irises will even out. In isolated cases, different eye colors remain for life. People call such people happy, and there is also an opinion that they are unable to cast the evil eye. If melanin is completely absent in the iris, then the eyes have. This phenomenon is typical for albinos.
How to determine the color of a child's eyes
Most parents imagine the appearance of their baby even during pregnancy. They are often tormented by the question of whether it is possible to determine in advance the eye color that the child will have. The happy owners of newborn children are no less interested in this issue and are looking forward to the final formation of the iris.
In fact, it is impossible to determine with accuracy what the color will be, since it can be influenced various factors and even the genes of grandparents. But there is data that can be used to determine the greater likelihood of getting a certain eye color based on the eye color of the parents.
If both parents have green eyes, then the child has:
- 1% chance of brown eyes
- 25% chance of blue
- 74% green
If one parent has green eyes and the other has blue eyes, then:
- 50% chance of blue eyes
- 50% chance of green
If one of the parents has green eyes and the other has brown eyes, then:
- 50% chance of brown eyes
- 37% chance of green eyes
- 13% chance of blue eyes
If both parents have blue eyes, then:
- 99% probability of blue eyes
- 1% green
If the eyes are blue, and the second has brown, then:
- 50% chance of blue eyes
- 50% chance of brown eyes
If both parents have brown eyes, then:
- 75% chance of brown eyes
- 18% chance of green eyes
- 6% blue
Now there is special programs determining the child's eye color. They work online. To get the result you need to enter the eye color of the child's parents and grandparents. The programs may differ slightly from each other, but they all work on the same principle - calculating probability in ways similar to the above.
It is also worth noting that the iris consists of two layers. The color of the anterior one appears after birth, and the color of the posterior one is formed in utero. Therefore, at birth, blue and gray colors can be imparted by closely located vessels. And if they are located at a normal distance, then the color of the newborn’s eyes will be darker, blue.
Eye color and character of the child
Eye color is often compared to a person's character. What can the iris of a little man tell us?
- Green eyes. Children with this eye color are very demanding, stubborn and persistent. And not only to others, but also to ourselves. With age, these qualities form a person who clearly knows what he needs and why. Sometimes green eyed people self-critical.
- Blue eyes. Children with this eye color are most often prone to sentimentality and pragmatism. But they have an unbridled imagination and love to dream. They do not like to be capricious and often have a calm disposition.
- Blue eyes. Blue-eyed children are very... They can easily be offended and brought to tears. They take disappointment to heart and worry for a long time.
- Brown eyes. Such children have a very cheerful disposition, high activity and frequent mood changes. They are characterized by hard work and diligence. Sometimes they can be hot-tempered, sometimes shy.
- Grey eyes. Gray-eyed children are calm and balanced. They think about their every action and slowly carry out assignments.
Most parents dream that their child's eye color will remain the same blue-blue as at birth. But in most cases it changes and becomes similar to the color of the parents or grandparents.
Watch the video to see what eye color tells you about a newborn:
Features of the development of a newborn child by week, stages...
Many future parents, while still happily awaiting their baby, think about who he will be like. Will he be fair-haired and gray-eyed, like mom, or will he have brown hair and dark brown eyes, like dad? Or maybe they will turn out to be green, like grandma’s. And how much new parents are surprised when in the maternity hospital they are shown a newborn with bright blue or sky blue eyes, which none of their immediate relatives have.
When it changes
As a rule, the eyes of newly born people have a different shade from the one they will acquire later. It is useless to try to guess what they will be like by peering into the face of a newly born baby, because his eyes will most likely turn out to be cloudy blue. This is due to the fact that the iris of newborns does not contain melanin at all, the amount of which determines the shade.
It is impossible to say exactly when a newborn's eyes will acquire a permanent color. All children develop individually and the color of their iris also changes according to different terms. For some, it becomes permanent already in the first months of life. For others, this happens around the age of one year, or even later. And it happens that the process of changing shade drags on for years. However, on average, eye color changes between 9 and 12 months.
Newborn baby eye color
Most children come into this world with dark blue or grayish eyes. Exceptions are possible only if the baby is very dark-skinned or belongs to a dark-skinned race: then they will immediately turn out to be brown.
The color of a newborn's eyes depends on nationality. So, most little Europeans are born with an iris of a light blue, blue or even purple hue. Children belonging to the Mongoloid race will have greenish-brown hair immediately after birth. And for dark-skinned children of the Negroid race, they will turn out to be dark brown.
Factors affecting iris color
The color of a newborn's eyes is determined not only by the shade of his mother's and father's irises. It is also influenced by factors such as:
- Genes of relatives, and not necessarily close ones. Sometimes the eye color of grandparents, both relatives and cousins, is passed on to the baby. And sometimes children inherit it from their ancient ancestors.
- Skin color, race and nationality of parents.
- Amount of pigment. It can be different already at the birth of a newborn, and their eye color depends on how much melanin is in the iris.
Melanin- a pigment that performs important function- paints the iris a certain color. Melanin accumulates in chromatophores located on the outer layer of the iris. The most common color is dark brownish. The less melanin in the chromatophores, the lighter the shade. This is what causes blue, cyan or gray shades. With a large amount of melanin, the iris will be brownish.
Sometimes, under the influence pathological changes in the liver, the iris becomes yellow. And if the process of melanin production in the body is disrupted, the iris becomes pink or reddish.
If your baby's eyes have acquired a distinct yellow tint, this is a reason to consult a doctor. Yellowness of the iris most often appears with jaundice and liver diseases.
Blue
They are observed in most babies in the first months of their life, but do not always remain so. By the age of one year, such eyes may become brown or grayish.
This is the most changeable color of the iris - as a rule, its shade changes several times until it becomes permanent. If the child’s eyes remain blue, then their final color is established by 2-4 years.
As a rule, the milky blue shade of a newborn's eyes changes to darker or lighter, it may even become greenish or grayish. Most often, blue-eyed people are fair-skinned people with golden or ash-colored hair.
Blue eyes appear in humans due to a mutation in which very little melanin is produced in the iris.
The blue tint is due to the fact that there are collagen fibers in the outer layer of the iris, although there are no blue or cyan pigments there at all. This shade itself is due to optical scattering of light.
Gray
Gray is a common iris color. If the density of collagen in the stroma is high, then the child’s eyes will be light gray; if the density is lower, they will become gray-bluish.
The presence of melanin gives a yellowish or brownish tint. Gray color, like blue, depends not on the presence of pigment, but on the scattering of light.
If a baby is gray-eyed from birth, then most likely the color will not change significantly with age. They may only lighten or darken slightly, or acquire a bluish or greenish tint.
Blue
Blue is also associated not with the amount of melanin in the iris, but with the scattering and refraction of light rays. It occurs when the collagen fibers on the outer layer of the iris are less dense and have very little melanin. The lower the collagen density, the brighter or darker the blue shade you will get. Sometimes it can be very deep and dark - indigo shade.
Brown
As already noted, almost all babies are born with blue or sky blue eyes. As melanin accumulates in the iris, its color in many of them acquires a brownish tint, which will become more saturated over time.
The brown color is due to the large amount of melanin in the iris, which absorbs most light rays. And reflected light gives a brownish tint.
Greens
It is determined by a small amount of melanin and the presence of a yellowish or light brownish pigment called lipofuscin in the outer layers of the iris. Due to the fact that the blue or blue scattered in the stroma is superimposed on it, this color is formed.
Bright and rich green is a rarity, since most often green eyes have grayish or light brownish inclusions. More often found in Northern or Central Europe. Sometimes found in natives of southern Europe.
The greenest eyes different shades found in only 2% of the world's population.
If a newborn’s eyes are grassy or emerald green, they will remain that way for life. Over time, they may only lighten or darken slightly.
Table of what color it can be
It is impossible to determine exactly what color a newborn's eyes will be. One can only guess with what probability he will inherit it from his parents or another relative from previous generations. A table has been developed for this purpose.
| Parents eye color | Probability percentage | |||
| Brown | Blue | Greens | ||
| Brown | Brown | 75% | 6% | 19% |
| Brown | Greens | 50% | 12% | 38% |
| Brown | Blue | 50% | 50% | 0% |
| Greens | Greens | 0% | 25% | 75% |
| Greens | Blue | 0% | 50% | 50% |
| Blue | Blue | 0% | 99% | 1% |
How it changes
In children in the first year of life, especially if they are blue-eyed from birth, the shade can change repeatedly. There is nothing wrong with this, provided that the iris does not turn yellowish.
Light eyes in babies tend to temporarily change color when exposed to the most different circumstances such as stress, weather conditions, lighting.
Brown eyes can also change under the influence of circumstances. For example, if the baby is hungry, they may turn greenish, and if they are upset or stressed, they may turn grayish. The shade changes greatly during illness.
If there is a disruption in the formation of melanin in the iris, the child experiences heterochromia - a difference in the color of the right eye from the left or uneven coloring of areas of the iris.
A few color suggestions
- A dark-eyed child primarily pays attention to the color of an object, while a light-eyed child pays attention to its shape.
- Dark-eyed children love everything bright and warm tones, while light-eyed children prefer muted cool shades.
- Brown-eyed children are prone to spontaneous actions and are more emotional. Gray-eyed, blue-eyed and green-eyed children are restrained, have better control over their feelings and emotions, and are better oriented in space.
- Brown-eyed people are more sociable than light-eyed people.
- Light-eyed people, as a rule, have their own opinions, while dark-eyed people often use generally accepted categories.
- U blue eyed people- a scientific mindset, and brown-eyed people are creative individuals.
The eyes of most children at birth have a completely different shade than the one that is genetically determined. Many of those who develop shades of amber, cinnamon or silver are born with bright blue eyes, which then either darken or become lighter. The table will tell parents what shade of iris the baby will have. But sometimes it turns out that the shade is inherited from a great-grandfather or great-grandmother. In any case, it is not so important whether the baby is blue-eyed, green-eyed or brown-eyed, because the main thing is that he is healthy and happy.
Views: 10524 .Any mother would like to know in advance what her baby will be like when he grows up. Unfortunately, it is impossible to predict this. A person’s appearance changes throughout his life, and looking at a baby’s face, it is unrealistic to predict which features he will retain and which he will later lose. There is a high chance that over time the newborn will even change the color of his eyes! What is this connected with? And when does a baby’s eye color change?
What determines the eye color of a newborn baby, and why does it change?
Like many others external features and properties, the shade of the iris is “programmed” at the genetic level even before a person is born. In most cases, eye color is determined based on race. The following options are considered typical:
However, these patterns are not always observed. In genetics, direct inheritance plays a much larger role than racial characteristics, and the appearance of a child will depend, first of all, on the phenotypes of his parents.
One way or another, the color of the iris is a predetermined property. Why does it change over time in some babies?
A substance called melanin is responsible for the pigmentation of the iris. It is in short supply in a newborn's body, which is why the eyes of most babies are so light. Over time, the amount of pigment produced by the body increases, and if the child is “genetically programmed” to have a dark iris, its shade changes to the required one.
Color Inheritance Probability Table
There are methods that allow you to more or less accurately determine what your baby’s eyes will be like when he grows up. Thus, according to the laws of genetic inheritance of external characteristics, the probability of a child displaying one or another shade of the iris is approximately as follows:
| Eye color | The child's likelihood of receiving | |||
| one parent | from the other parent | brown eye color | green color eye | blue eye color |
| brown | brown | 75% | 18,75% | 6,25% |
| brown | green | 50% | 37,5% | 12,5% |
| brown | blue | 50% | 0% | 50% |
| green | green | 0% | 75% | 25% |
| green | blue | 0% | 50% | 50% |
| blue | blue | 0% | 1% | 99% |
Predicting the eye color of a newborn using the table gives fairly conditional results. Firstly, an iris of a pure shade is a rare phenomenon. In nature, variants that appear as a result of mixing colors (gray, olive, amber, etc.) are more common. Secondly, when forming a phenotype, the genetic data of not only parents, but also other relatives of older generations are taken into account. That is, inherit rare color an eye, for example, from a great-grandmother - unlikely, but not impossible.
How and when does a baby’s eye color change after birth?
At what age does the amount of melanin in a child’s body increase and the iris acquire its genetically predetermined color? Due to the fact that pigment accumulation occurs gradually, the final shade is formed in several stages. Accordingly, the color of a newborn’s eyes changes several times, finally becoming established only by the age of three. Exactly how long the process will take depends largely on what eye color the baby had initially.
Blue iris
Sky-colored eyes in a newborn baby are the most common option, in which it is almost impossible to determine how the baby’s appearance will ultimately change. Blue color is changeable. In the first 2-4 years of a child’s life, it can change repeatedly, becoming darker or lighter.
The fact that the shade of the iris will remain blue and will not change to gray or green can be judged no earlier than the baby celebrates his first birthday. If the child is destined to be brown or even more dark color peephole - most likely this will become noticeable a few months after the baby is born.
Gray shade of the iris
The majority of children are born light-eyed. The blue color of the iris takes precedence in this regard. However, there are slightly fewer babies whose eyes are gray from birth.
Gray color is almost as changeable as blue. Depending on the lighting or the child's mood during the day, the color of the iris may become richer or paler. This property can be maintained for long years. The final color of the iris in gray-eyed people is formed by the age of 12. At the same time, a radical change of the main shade to brown, green or blue is almost impossible.
Blue eye color
The indigo iris is, in a sense, genetic mutation, in which a rare shade appears due to the low density of cells in the tissues of the eyeball. This anomaly does not affect visual acuity. With age, the density of cells in the outer layer of the iris may normalize, and it will take on a more “neutral” blue or grayish tint. Usually this happens by 1.5-2 years.
Brown-eyed kids
If a child is born with a dark iris, it will never become lighter. The gene responsible for the appearance of a brown tint is dominant. Born with brown eyes, the baby will retain this color for the rest of its life (and pass on a similar phenotype to its children).
It is possible that in the first six months of a child’s life, his irises will continue to darken. It is difficult to predict what color the end result will be – rich brown or black. There are known cases when a baby with blue or gray eyes, the irises became dark brown in a few days and did not change anymore.
The rarest color of the iris (green)
The likelihood that a newborn's eyes will resemble young grass in their hue is low. There is even less chance that the irises will retain their rich green color over time. This is only possible if both parents of the baby have light eyes of the same shade. Otherwise, already in the first few weeks of life, the irises of the newborn will acquire a gray or brown (less often blue) color.
Does changing eye color affect a child's vision?
Many young parents begin to worry when they notice that their newborn's irises are becoming cloudy or pale. There is no need to be afraid of this. Gradual change in the shade of the iris - normal phenomenon, which will be observed from time to time until the eye color is finally established. This process does not have a negative effect on visual acuity - as the color of the eyes changes and the baby grows, his ability to see will improve.
Most children are born with farsightedness. In the first weeks of life, the baby’s visual acuity is only 50% of normal. As the eyeball develops, during which the iris changes color, the birth defect disappears. As a rule, by the age of 3, a child sees normally. Taking these facts into account, it cannot be said that changing the shade of the eyes affects vigilance.
Can various diseases affect color and how?
A gradual change in the shade of the iris in infancy is a normal phenomenon, but if this happens suddenly, and even with a child at an older age, this is a reason to think about it. There are a number of diseases that can manifest themselves in this way, the list is given in the table below.
| What happens to the iris? | What caused the effect? | Probable Cause |
| A distinct dark ring appears around the iris | Irregularities at work nervous system caused by a failure in the metabolic process and excessive copper deposition in the body | Wilson-Konovalov disease |
| The iris takes on a reddish or pinkish tint | Formation of a large number of new vessels in the eyeball or stagnation of blood in existing ones | Diabetes mellitus, uveitis |
| The iris suddenly darkens | The formation of a large number of new cells in the tissues of the eyeball or the sedimentation of foreign substances and elements in them | Melanoma, siderosis |
| The iris becomes several shades lighter | Deficiency of iron and other beneficial micro- and macroelements in the body often occurs due to disruptions in the blood supply to cells | Anemia, leukemia |
How not to miss the onset of the disease and notice it in time warning signs? A change in eye color due to health problems occurs at the stage of development of the disease when it manifests itself in all possible signs. Trying to diagnose a disease in a baby yourself by the shade of the irises is a difficult and completely useless task.
If you suspect that the change in eye color is not going according to script, it would be wiser to show the baby to an ophthalmologist. The doctor will be able to dispel unfounded fears or prescribe suitable treatment for the child.
The birth of a child is the most wonderful moment in the life of every woman. Even at the stage of pregnancy, expectant mothers begin to ask questions about what gender the baby will be, who he will look like, and what color his eyes will be. This article will tell you what eye color newborns have and when it begins to change.
Special pigment
Most babies are born with the same cloudy, blue-gray eyes. Sometimes the irises have a dark tint - this means that the baby will have brown or black ones. A special pigment, melanin, is responsible for the shade; it is responsible for what color the eyes of newborns will be when they are born. While the baby is in the womb, this substance is almost not produced; only a few days after birth, melanocytes begin to actively grow and accumulate in the iris. Within a month, the color of the newborn’s eyes becomes brighter and clearer, the cloudiness disappears, but the shade remains the same. The color shade of a child is not always the same as that of its parents. This leads to questions from young mothers about whether the eye color of newborns changes.
Heredity
At birth, a baby inherits the genes of both parents, but they can change under the influence of the child’s developmental characteristics. It is heredity and individuality small organism are responsible for when the eye color of a newborn changes. Typically, changes in the color of the iris begin after a few months and can last for several years. Of course, the shade will form earlier, the changes will only affect its intensity. But even doctors cannot say exactly when the eye color of newborns changes, in how many months or years this will happen.
Who is stronger
The birth of a person is a miracle and a still unsolved mystery for scientists. No one can know in advance whose set of genes will be stronger. Part of the mystery is revealed by Mendel's law, based on the division of genes into recessive and dominant. Speaking in simple language, dark color is stronger in genetics than light color. So, for example, parents with dark eyes have a high chance of getting a small dark-eyed copy of themselves. Mom and Dad have bright eyes most often a light-eyed baby is born. If the shade of the iris differs between the parents, then the color of the newborn’s eyes will be dark - dominant, or intermediate. But this is only in theory; in practice, everything is a little more complicated. Even great scientific minds cannot predict the characteristics of the future baby.
Percentage
Based on the law described above, modern geneticists have calculated the percentage of babies born with a particular eye color. The pattern looks like this:
- If both parents have a blue tint to the iris, then there is a 99% chance that a blue-eyed baby will be born, but there is a 1% chance that the newborn’s eye color will be green.
- Surprisingly, brown-eyed moms and dads can have a child with any iris color. The approximate ratio looks like this: brown - 75%, green - 18%, and blue - 7%.
- If the father and mother are green-eyed, then the color of the baby’s iris may be as follows: green - 75%, blue - 24%, brown - 1%.
- If one of the parents has blue eyes and the other has green eyes, then the probability of the baby inheriting the color of the iris is the same; it can be equally the same as the mother’s and the same as the father’s.
- If one of the parents is brown-eyed and the other is green-eyed, the child’s iris color may be as follows: brown - 50%, green - 37%, blue - 13%.
- Parents with brown and blue eyes have equal chances of getting a blue-eyed or brown-eyed baby from a stork.
Genetic features
Most often, eye color is passed on to the child from the parents. But there are situations when the shade is fundamentally different from mom and dad’s, and they begin to sound the alarm. You should not run to the clinic for a DNA test, because dominant genes can appear even after several generations. So, for example, it may turn out that the great-grandmother on the father’s side was a fiery brunette with brown eyes, but everyone forgot about it after so many years. Genes can be passed on from grandparents, especially dominant ones. Dark-eyed people are the most numerous on earth. Their iris contains a large amount of pigment. If a child with blue or green There are even small dark inclusions in the eyes, then the shade of the iris can subsequently change greatly.
Only recently it became known that blue eye color is a mutation of the human genome that occurred about 6,000 years ago. This happened on the territory of modern Eurasia, so most light-eyed people are born here. There are exceptions to many rules. In addition to inconsistencies with genetic calculations, there are more interesting cases. For example, heterochromia or albinism. These are genetic characteristics of the body that are inherited or acquired.
Heterochromia
With heterochromia, a person has different eye colors. This anomaly is associated with unequal coloring of the irises. Most often it is inherited, but it can also be acquired. This pathology occurs for medical reasons when the iris is damaged. It can be chronic diseases eyes or a trapped metal fragment. Genetic heterochromia manifests itself in several forms: complete, sector or central. When full, each iris has its own color, the most common type being brown/blue. With the sectoral form of heterochromia, one eye has many different shades, and with the central form, the iris has several colored rings.
Albinism
It's rare hereditary disease, in which the body practically does not produce pigment. A pathological gene affects the production of melanin, hence the lack of coloring pigment in the skin, hair and iris. newborns with this genetic trait are bright scarlet. Subsequently, it becomes light blue or whitish. With ocular albinism, there is a lack of pigment only in the iris; the hair and skin of such people are of a normal color. Parents who have albinos in their family are at risk. This pathological gene can manifest itself even after many years.
Features of vision in infants
The eye color of a newborn is not constant. It changes, and with it vision itself. When the baby was in his mother’s belly, he didn’t need to see. After birth, gradual adaptation begins to occur, because there are so many interesting things around! During the first month, the baby's eyes get used to daylight, and the cloudy layer that served as a kind of protection disappears. Visual acuity comes gradually. At two months, the child can already focus his gaze. Along with vision, the brain also develops. The baby begins to process incoming information. He learns to connect objects, sounds, smells and touches, all the images that surround him. As a child approaches one year of age, a child’s vision is not at all the same as that of an adult. Further development helps the baby remember visual images, helps assess the distance to an object, colors become brighter and more saturated. By the age of 3, farsightedness, which has been characteristic of them since birth, disappears in infants. The child is growing eyeballs, development of eye muscles and optic nerve. The organs of vision are finally formed only by the age of 7 years.
The greatest happiness
It doesn’t matter what color the newborn’s eyes will be or who he will look like. Don't be afraid of his small, slightly cloudy eyes, helpless screams or ridiculous movements of his arms and legs. The baby discovers the world, and you discover it! After all, he may have his mother’s nose, and his father’s ears, hair the same as his older sister’s, and lips like his beloved granny’s. Soon your vision will become clear. Seeing you, the baby will smile broadly and consciously stretch out his tiny palms to you. At this moment, it will not matter at all what color the baby’s eyes are, because they are the most beautiful in the world!
The color of a child’s eyes is one of the inherited characteristics that makes him similar to his father, mother or close relatives, which are grandparents.
In the laws of genetics, there are two concepts - dominance and recessivity. The dominant trait is always stronger; in a child it suppresses the weaker one - the recessive one, but does not block it completely, allowing it to manifest itself in the next generation.
Brown eye color always prevails over green, green over gray and blue. However, if the baby has a blue-eyed grandfather or a gray-eyed grandmother, then the eyes may be blue or gray. This means that the trait is passed on through generations.
It must be remembered that the laws of heredity are much more complex than those that we study at school.
Thus, scientists have found that sections of six genes affect the color of a child’s iris, so there are thousands of variations of just shades of the same eye color. In addition to the classical rules of genetics, there are mutations, an example of which is purple eye color.
What determines the color of a child’s eyes? It is determined by the amount of melanin. This is a special pigment contained in the iris of the eye. There are more pigment cells in the posterior layer of the iris (with the exception of albinos) than in the anterior one.
This allows the light rays not to be scattered, but to be absorbed, due to which complex formation processes occur visual image and the visual process is carried out.
Pigment cells begin to synthesize melanin only under the influence of light. Depending on how much melanin is contained in the structure of the anterior layer of the iris, the following eye colors are distinguished: blue, cyan, gray, green, olive, brown, dark (black).
But there are a large number of their shades and tones. There are even scales for classifying iris color. The most famous are the Bunak scale and the Martin-Schultz system.
A few words should also be said about the characteristics of the shades:
- Gray eyes and eyes of all shades of blue and cyan contain virtually no pigment. The light color of the vessels of the iris, combined with the scattering of light in its tissues, gives such a shade. The high density of collagen fibers in the structure of the anterior layer of the iris determines the lighter color;
- The green tint of the eyes appears due to the fact that the amount of melanin in them is higher than in gray and blue ones. In addition, the presence of lipofuscin pigment plays a large role in creating this color;
- Brown-eyed and dark-eyed people have the highest melanin content, which allows them to absorb almost all of the incident light.
What eye color are babies born with? Current opinion that almost everyone is born with blue eyes. This is not entirely true. Newborns' eyes can be either sky blue or dark gray.
Even twins can have different shades. The initial color depends on the number of pigment cells. They begin to function immediately after birth, after the first rays of light enter the eye.
How does a child's eye color change?
Pay attention to the eye color of children at birth. If the eyes of a newborn have a light blue tint, then most likely you should not expect radical changes. If the baby is dark gray in color, it will change to brown or even black.
When does a child's eye color change?
Its change can be noticed by the end of the first month of life. By the age of 2.5 years, when the eye color of babies almost completely changes, you can tell who he looks like.
The final eye color will only be achieved by the age of twelve.
What unusual eye color options can there be?
- in case of albinism ( complete absence pigment) eyes are red. This occurs due to the visualization of the vessels of the iris;
- with heterochromia (hereditary mutation), the eyes have different colors. This usually does not affect their function;
- absence of the iris (aniridia) – congenital anomaly development. It can be partial or complete, and visual acuity is low. Very often combined with hereditary pathologies.
Can diseases change eye color?
In a number of diseases, the iris can change its color:
- with uveitis, it becomes red due to stagnation of blood in the vessels;
- in severe cases – red-pink due to the appearance of newly formed vessels;
- in the case of Wilson-Konovalov disease, a ring is formed around the iris due to copper deposits;
- sometimes not the color, but the shade may change, becoming darker (with siderosis or melanoma) or lighter (with leukemia or anemia).
Changes in eye color appear at the height of the disease when clinical picture and the main symptom complex do not allow one to doubt the diagnosis.
At the end of the last century, the method of iridology was very popular. Changes in the pattern, color and structure of the iris were studied.
It was believed that it was possible to diagnose almost all diseases occurring in the human body. Within evidence-based medicine This method turned out to be absolutely unreliable, and therefore is not used today.
Changing the color or shade of the eyes is a matter of time. You shouldn’t waste such short days waiting for small changes. After all, we love the baby not for external signs, but for the fact that it exists!
