People are born with an eye color that is inherited by them due to genetic predisposition. But the color of the iris may also depend on some other factors - the location of pigments, the presence of melanin and the functioning of blood vessels. Brown eye color is considered the most common, and blue-eyed people, despite the generally accepted opinion, are somewhat less common on our planet. Ten thousand years ago, all people had brown eyes.
It is difficult to imagine why the change occurred and other shades arose. But the interesting thing is that there are people with amazing eye color, which makes the look mysterious and unusually beautiful. So what is the rarest eye color?
Green is considered the rarest eye color. Only two percent of people on Earth have this unique eye color. This may be due to the fact that in the Middle Ages, green-eyed beauties were called witches, for which they were subject to burning at the stake. They tried to avoid people with green eyes, believing in their witchcraft abilities.
If we consider the issue from a scientific point of view, then everything is explained by the amount of melanin produced, which is responsible for the color of the eyes. Green-eyed people produce little coloring pigment. There is also an opinion that this eye color occurs in red-haired people.
Owners of such beautiful eyes do not even need to use mascara, because the eyes are already very expressive and deep. Most often, this most beautiful eye color is found in women - it is quite rare to find a green-eyed man.
This is a truly unique eye shade that fascinates and makes you admire. Some even believe that it is simply impossible to have naturally purple eyes. However, this eye color exists in reality, although it is extremely rare to meet owners of this eye color.
Medical representatives believe that this shade is the result of a mutation that is completely harmless and does not negatively affect the organ of vision. But how lucky is the owner of this eye color - once you see these most beautiful eyes, you can “drown” in their attractiveness and depth. Elizabeth Taylor had violet eyes, which made her the most beautiful woman, attracting with her mystery and sexuality.
It is also very rare to find this eye color. Again, red eyes are due to the lack of melanin, and therefore the color of the iris is determined by the work of blood vessels and the presence of collagen fibers. These eyes are also called “albino eyes,” but this is an exception since albinos have mostly brown or blue eyes.
This is a type of brown eye. However, this shade is very rare. The warm golden color of the iris gives the eyes a rather exotic look and special attractiveness.
This eye color, despite its rarity, can still be found in nature more often than all of the above. This shade occurs due to the high content of coloring pigment in the iris. Light hitting the iris is completely absorbed, giving such “darkness” to the eyes. Most often, black eyes can be found among representatives of the Negroid race.
Mystery gene
Rare eye colors
Geography of color
Heterochromia
Psychology of color
Perception by others
There are no two people in the world with exactly the same eye color. All children have dull blue eyes at birth due to the lack of melanin, but later they acquire one of the few shades that will remain human for life.
Mystery gene
Back at the end of the 19th century, there was a hypothesis that human ancestors had exclusively dark eyes. Hans Eyberg, a modern Danish scientist at the University of Copenhagen, has conducted scientific research confirming and developing this idea. According to research results, the OCA2 gene, which is responsible for light shades of eyes, mutations of which disable the standard color, appeared only during the Mesolithic period (10,000-6,000 BC). Hans has been collecting evidence since 1996 and concluded that OCA2 regulates the production of melanin in the body, and any changes in the gene reduce this ability and impair its functioning, causing blue eyes. The professor also claims that all blue-eyed inhabitants of the Earth have common ancestors, because this gene is inherited.
However, different forms of the same gene, alleles, are always in a state of competition, and the darker color always “wins,” as a result of which parents with blue and brown eyes will have brown-eyed children, and only a blue-eyed couple can have a baby with eyes of cold shades.
Rare eye colors
There are only about 2% of truly green-eyed people in the world, and most of them live in the northern countries of Europe. In Russia, uneven green shades of eyes are often found, mixed with brown or gray pigment. Also an incredible exception are black eyes, although they are much more common than others. The iris of such eyes has a high concentration of melanin, which almost completely absorbs light. Many people believe that all albinos have red eyes, although in reality this is the exception rather than the rule (most albinos have brown or blue eyes). Red eyes are the result of a lack of melanin in the ectodermal and mesodermal layers, where blood vessels and collagen fibers “show through”, determining the color of the iris. A very rare color is a variation of the most common one - we are talking about amber, sometimes yellow eyes.
This color results from the presence of lipochrome pigment, which is also found in green-eyed people. This rare eye color is characteristic of some animal species, such as wolves, cats, owls and eagles.
Geography of color
Professor Eiberg suggested the geographic coordinates where the mutation processes of the “blue-eyed” gene began. According to the scientist, it all started, oddly enough, in the northern regions of Afghanistan, between India and the Middle East. During the Mesolithic period, the Aryan tribes were located here. By the way, the division of the languages of the Indo-European group dates back to this period. Currently, the most common eye color in the world is brown, with the exception of the Baltic countries. Blue and blue eyes are most common among the European population.
For example, in Germany 75% of the population can boast of such eyes, and in Estonia all 99%. Blue and blue eyes are common among the European population, especially in the Baltics and Northern Europe, and are often found in the Middle East (Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iran). Among Ukrainian Jews, 53.7% have this eye color. Gray eye color is common in Eastern and Northern Europe, and in Russia there are about 50% of carriers of this color. There are about 25% of brown-eyed people in our country, 20% of blue-eyed people of various shades, but carriers of rare green and dark, almost black colors total no more than 5% of Russians.
Heterochromia
This amazing phenomenon is expressed in the different colors of the eyes of one person or animal. Most often, heterochromia is caused genetically. For example, breeders and breeders deliberately create breeds of cats and dogs with different eye colors. In humans, there are three types of this feature: complete, central and sectoral heterochromia. According to the names, in the first case both eyes have their own, often contrasting, shade. The most common color of one eye is brown and the other is blue. Central heterochromia is characterized by the presence of several full-colored rings of the iris of one eye. Sector heterochromia is an uneven color of one eye in several shades. There are three separate pigments that characterize eye color - blue, brown and yellow, the number of which forms the mysterious shades of heterochromia, which occurs in approximately 10 people out of 1000.
Psychology of color
Professor Joana Rob from the University of Lowville, USA, argues that blue-eyed people are more prone to strategic thinking and play better golf, while brown-eyed people have good memory, are very reasonable and temperamental.
Astrologers and psychologists like to mention the relationship between eye color and a person’s character. Most often they say, for example, that blue-eyed people are persistent and sentimental, but can be arrogant. Gray-eyed people are smart, but powerless in matters that require a sensual approach, while green-eyed people, for example, are gentle and, at the same time, can be overly principled. Such conclusions are not always based on statistical studies and surveys. There is also a rational scientific grain here. For example, scientists have discovered the PAX6 gene, which plays a major role in iris pigmentation and personality type. It is involved in the development of the part of the frontal lobe that is responsible for empathy and self-control. Thus, it can be argued that a person's character and eye color are biologically interrelated, but there is still not enough research in this area to consider such statements scientific.
Perception by others
A study was conducted in the USA involving thousands of women aged 16 to 35 years. Its results are quite interesting: blue and gray eyes give the owner the image of a “sweet” (42%) and kind (10%) person, green eyes are associated with sexuality (29%) and cunning (20%), and brown eyes are associated with developed intelligence ( 34%) and kindness (13%).
Researchers at Charles University in Prague conducted an unusual experiment to determine the degree of trust in people depending on eye color. The largest percentage of participants recognized brown-eyed people in the photo as more trustworthy. During the experiment, scientists showed new photographs in which they changed the eye color of the same people, as a result of which interesting conclusions were drawn. It turned out that trust is caused more by the facial features inherent in brown-eyed people, and not by the eye color itself, as such. For example, brown-eyed men are more likely to have raised corners of the lips, a wide chin and large eyes, while blue-eyed men have a narrow mouth, small eyes and drooping corners of the lips. Brown-eyed women appear to be considered more trustworthy, although statistically this is less pronounced than in the case of dark-eyed men.
The first thing that attracts a person and sets him up for communication is his eyes. Eye color is considered a gift from nature, fate and parents. It makes a person different from others, different, and sometimes unique. To find out what the rarest eye color is and why some lucky people can boast of it, you need to turn to information from biology and medicine.
3. Green color: red and freckled eyes. Those with green eyes are Eastern and Western Slavs. These are residents of Germany, Iceland, as well as Turks. Pure green eyes are characteristic of no more than 2% of the world's population. Mostly, carriers of the green eye gene are women. It is believed that this rarity is due to the times of the Inquisition - then red-haired, green-eyed women were considered witches and put to fire for connections with evil spirits.
4. Amber-colored eyes: from golden to marsh. This brown variety is warm and light. A rather rare species, its yellowish-golden color is similar to the eyes of a wolf. That's what they are sometimes called. May turn into a red-copper hue. This color is also called walnut. Eyes of this shade are usually given to vampires or werewolves.
5. Black color: passionate eyes. True black color is not common, it is just a shade of brown. The iris of such eyes contains such a huge amount of melanin pigment that it completely absorbs all light rays. This is why the eyes appear jet black. More often they can be found among representatives of the Negroid race, as well as residents of Asia.
Unknown facts about human eyes
7 out of 10 people have brown eyes.
With the help of a special laser operation, brown eyes can be turned into bluish ones. It is believed that if melanin is removed from the iris, it will reveal a blue tint underneath.
10,000 years ago, all people living on the shores of the Black Sea looked at the world with brown eyes. Then, as a result of genetic changes, blue eyes appeared.
The yellow tint of the iris, or “wolf eye” as it is called, is common among many animals, birds, fish and even domestic cats.
Heterochromia is a disease in which the eyes are colored differently. This rare anomaly occurs in only 1% of people on the planet. According to signs, such people are happy and successful in life. It was believed that if a person has eyes of different colors, then he is associated with the devil or demon. These prejudices can be explained by the fear of ordinary people of everything unknown and unusual.
There is still ongoing debate about what the rarest eye color is. Some give the palm to the green shade, some scientists insist on the possibility of the existence on the planet of a select few with violet eyes. Many people talk about acceptable color effects under different degrees of illumination, when eyes can appear amber, lilac, and red. However, everyone's iris color is unique.
The variety of eye colors in people is amazing, but the majority of the planet's inhabitants have gray, brown or blue irises. Blue, green, red, yellow eyes are much less common. The rarest eye color is purple, however, it is not easy to find such an anomaly, and therefore most people are sure that it is just a myth. But this is reality, and such a phenomenon can be seen at least in the photo.
The rarest eye color in the world
Violet eyes. The purple hue of the iris is a result of a mixture of shades of red and blue, so genetically it is simply a variant of the iris with blue pigment. Blue pigment is not at all uncommon; all blue-eyed representatives of the Caucasian race have it. Unlike blue eyes, blue and blue-lilac are much less common, but amethyst or violet are completely rare in the world. But, since genetics does not reject the possibility of the existence of lilac eyes, they can be seen.
Purple irises are found among representatives of one of the ethnic groups in the highlands of North Kashmir. The famous American actress, whose beauty captivated the whole world, had violet-colored eyes.
Doctors include lilac irises in the list of symptoms of Alexandria syndrome. The symptomatic picture of this genetic disease includes highly developed muscles, thick fingers, patients often have no hair on the body, and women do not have a menstrual cycle, although fertility is normal.
Green eyes. Pure green iris is rare, as is violet, but variations of this shade combined with light brown or gray are common. These chameleon eyes change shade against the background of clothes of a certain color. Among the green iris options are bottle green, light green, emerald green, grassy, jade, emerald brown, green foliage and sea green.
There is an opinion, unconfirmed by scientific research, that the gene for green eyes is adjacent to the gene for red hair, but in practice, green-eyed people are brunettes and brown-haired, and occasionally even blondes are found. A green tint of the iris without any admixture of another color is present in 2% of the world's inhabitants. Most of them are residents of Central Europe and Russia. Of interest are studies according to which the color of the iris is influenced by a person’s gender: among the adult population of Holland, there are fewer green-eyed men than green-eyed representatives of the fairer sex.
Red eyes. The red color of the iris is an exception to the rule, since it is found only in albinos, who have a lack of melanin in their tissues.
With this genetic feature, the color of the iris is simply absent, and blood vessels are visible through the tissues and collagen fibers of the iris, which makes the eye color reddish. When blue pigment is present, the iris takes on a purple tint.
Golden or yellow eyes. The yellow color of the iris is a special case of the brown color. Yellow eyes, depending on the amount and density of pigment, can be either rich yellow-brown, gold, amber, or light yellow, which looks exotic and resembles the color of the eyes of cats or wolves.
Often such eyes have a dark rim on the iris. So, despite the light color, yellow eyes can be bright, attracting attention with their unusualness.
Black eye color. Brown eyes ranging from dark to light shades are the most common iris color on the planet, but the high concentration of melanin that makes eyes truly black is rare.
This feature is characteristic of the peoples of Africa who belong to the Negroid race, and the peoples of East, South and Southeast Asia, who are representatives of the Mongoloid race. Often, ebon-black eye color is combined with a grayish or yellowish tint to the eyeball.
With congenital or acquired heterochromia, the color of a person's eyes varies. Heterochromia can be complete or partial. In the first case, the irises of a person’s eyes will be of different colors, both similar in shade and contrasting. With partial heterochromia, abnormal pigmentation can be central or sectoral, when one or more parts of the iris in one or both eyes are different in color.
The birth defect is due to a mutation, affects only the appearance of the eyes and does not cause additional problems. Heterochromia acquired due to injury or chronic diseases is accompanied by all sorts of complications, such as organic or functional transformations in the nervous system. It is interesting that congenital abnormal coloring of the eye shell is more common in girls, while the stronger half of humanity is less likely to demonstrate this phenomenon.