1207 Eyes

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Ever since the optometrist said I have "albino eyes"(an exaggeration) I've been reading about eye color, why eyes look the color they do. According to what I've read, the only color actually in the iris is some degree of some shade of brown. The other colors are caused by the eye reflecting in the blue wave length.

The iris is multi-layered. The cells in each layer (inner and outer, to simplify) can be some degree of translucent or opaque, and can have some degree of some shade of brown.

The opacity determines how much blue is reflected. If there is no brown and all layers are translucent, then no blue is reflected and you get the pink eyes of the albino, rare in human albinos. Pink eyes don't block light, and are very sensitive to and can be damaged by light.

If some or most of the cells are opaque, and have no brown, then you get clear blue eyes. The degree and location of the opacity determines the shade of blue. The more opacity the more blue and the more to the outer layer the more blue. A mostly translucent outer layer and some opacity scattered toward the inner layers will move toward gray, since the light is reflected less evenly.

Brown eyes are easy to figure out. Lots of color. Some brown eyes have a blue cast. That probably indicates a translucent outer layer over a well-colored inner layer.

Green eyes happen when the outer layer is colorless and mostly translucent, and the inner layer has some degree of light brown. Blue reflected over light brown gives green.

Liz Taylor's violet eyes? No brown, and a mix of opacity and translucence that allows some pink through with the blue.

My mother's eyes and Jay's eyes were very dark brown. Lots of an even brown color and translucence in an even mix in both layers.

Roman's eyes I call "kaleidoscope eyes", having flecks of every color. He must have a royal mix of opacity, translucence, and shades of brown color. A speck of clear on top of a light brown with a speck of dark brown right next to it with a heavy dose of opacity next to that, and so on.

Daughter's eyes range from gray through blue through turquoise, depending on her mood. I don't know what that means.

My father's eyes were the silvery blue of a winter sky. Translucent outer, opaque inner, no color. My father had "nearly albino" eyes, having no color, and high translucence.

My eyes? The outer layers are translucent and colorless (except for a visible brown spot in the outer layer of one eye). The inner layers are opaque, with small flecks of light brown. That makes them look light gray. BUT, because of the light brown, there are hints of green, especially in the right light, and usually in mirrors (mirrors cut blue, that's why blue-haired ladies don't know they have blue hair). I suspect something has changed, because my eyes were definitely green in high school. Something faded.

So when the optometrist said I had albino eyes, he was referring to the very small amount of color I have. Near albino would have been more accurate. Or like, maybe, Nordic.

All that reminded me of deer eyes. Just as you can tell a doe's footprints from a buck's by the shape, you can tell a doe from a buck by what their eyes reflect. If you've ever caught a deer in your headlights, you know that their eyes reflect a bright glow.

A doe's eyes glow toward pink, and a buck's eyes glow toward yellow or green.

Betcha didn't know that.
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