Do you know why do eyes change color with moods? There are various factors that can cause your eyes to change color from dark to light or vice versa.
How Do Eyes Change Color With Mood?
Change in emotions
Your eye color changes when you are happy, sad or angry. When you are happy, sad or angry your body releases a hormone that changes the size of your pupil to be bigger.
This causes your eye color to lighten and making them more vibrant. Also when you cry or become sad, your eyes’ color changes to reddish contrasting with the color of the iris hence making the eye appear brighter.
Melanin level
When you were a baby your eyes were blue or lighter in color which changed later by age to the color of your genes. The color of your eyes is determined by the melanin level on your body.[Source]
When you grow old the melanin level increases around your pupil making the eye to be darker in color. As you grow older your eyes also change to be brighter in color.
Prolonged exposure to the sun
When you prolong yourself to the sunlight may also change the eye color to darker. Your skin produces more melanin which also gets deposited around the pupil making the eye to change the color to darker.
Mode of dressing
Your eyes change color depending on the color of the dress and makeup you are putting on. When you have blue eyes then you wear red or green clothes, your eyes will appear in a different color. For example when you have brown eyes then you apply white eyeliner to the upper and lower eyelids, the color of the eye will appear brighter.
Unwell
The color of your eye changes when you are unwell. The eyes may appear to be yellowish or greenish when you are suffering from a certain illness in your body.
Diet
You may wonder why do eyes change color daily. It may be because of the diet you are taking. Eating a diet rich in vitamin C has a significant effect on your eye. Your eyes will change lighter in color when you eat plenty of citrus fruits and vegetables. Taking plenty of water also helps in keeping your eyes brighter.
When Do Babies Eye Change Color?
The time babies are born, their eyes are light-colored because their bodies have little melanin. Melanin is a body pigment that gives color to the eyes, hair and body skin of a human being. As the skin darkens due to the sunlight the same it does to the iris.
The light is responsible for initiating melanin production in the body. The body starts to manufacture melanin in the iris the moment a baby opens the eye in the bright maternity room. This is the reason why do eyes change color in babies.
The eye color of the babies is also genetic. The eye color will be formed from a combination of the same genes formed from several generations. The genes can also be inherited from the two parents of the baby.
When the wife and the husband have brown eyes, the probability of their baby having brown eyes is high. Also when the two parents have blue eyes the chances are high that their baby will have light eyes.
The eye color change in babies is very gradual. You may not be able to notice the change in the first 3 months. The change will start to be noticed when the baby is at the age of six months old to nine or ten months. At this time the body of the baby will have manufactured enough melanin pigment that can help you to predict the final color of the eyes of your baby.
But at this age, it is not appropriate to make the final conclusion of the eye color of your baby. You may notice for example green eye color but then it may turn hazel as the baby grows. When the baby is three years old their eye will have developed its permanent color.
Why do my Eyes Change Color
My eyes have been changing color from green to brown especially when am in the darkness and I have been wondering why do eyes change color, but after doing the research I discovered that the eye color changes naturally every 15-20 years due to the following;
Alteration Of Genes
The eye may change color due to the alteration of genes in the cells of the iris. This is because of your DNA factors in the body. The gene alteration can cause the eye to change color from brown to green and vice versa. There is no other explanation for the cause of the genes behaving in this manner.
Prolonged Exposure To The Sun
Prolonged exposure to the sun might also be another cause that made my eyes to change color. When you expose yourself to the sun your skin gets darkened and so do the eyes. The body produces more melanin when exposed to the sun. Melanin forms a thin brown layer around the pupil which causes the eye to appear brown.
Age Factor
The age factor can also cause the eye to change the color. As you grow old the age also changes the color as part of the aging process. When you sport a dramatic change in your eye color you should visit your doctor with immediate effect. It may be a symptom of eye defects such as pigmentary glaucoma or Horner’s syndrome.
Eye Disorders
Eye disorders such as hypnosis also change the eye color. When they have infected the eye, they cause the iris to change the color, eye treatments such as herbal eye drops can also change your eye color.
Eye Surgery
When you have undergone eye surgery, your eyes also change eye color. Eye surgery destroys the thin brown layer that surrounds the pupil of the eye. This process leaves the eye with a lighter color.
Other Factors
Lastly, there are other factors such as diet, body temperature and weather conditions that are likely to change the color of your eyes.
Do Hazel Eyes Change Color
Hazel eyes are very difficult to understand their color because they vary in color from brown to green. They are made from a combination of various colors. Hazel eyes had less melanin than the brown eyes but had more melanin than the blue eyes. It is more common than green eyes.
Hazel eyes are believed to change color due to changes in moods and the surroundings. When you are happy or sad your hazel eyes change color to brown. Additionally, things that surround you like the color of the clothes you are dressing make your hazel eyes change the color.
Another thing that causes confusion with hazel eyes is that they are very reflective than normal. This means that they can reflect the color of anything that surrounds them like the sky and the surface.