National Different Colored Eyes Day!
Y'all! I am so, so super stoked to do this one!
If I had a dollar for every time someone has looked straight at me and asked, "Do you know your eyes are two different colors?"(Here's your sign!)
I would be one rich momma! Yup!
Yours truly!
This day was meant for me!
The medical term is actually Heterochromia. It means a variation in color of the iris. The word is derived from Ancient Greece where "heteros" means different and "chroma" means color.
Heterochromia is determined by the production, delivery, and concentration of melanin(pigment). It may be inherited, or caused by genetic mosaicism, chimerism, disease, or injury.
According to the Genetic and Rare Diseases Information center, most cases of heterochromia of the eye occur sporadically in people with no family history of the condition.
Most cases are present from birth and are called genetic heterochromia.
People who develop it later on in life due to illness, injury, or medication are considered acquired heterochromia.
There are 3 types of Heterochromia.
Central heterochromia:
It is when the irises match each other but have a ring of different color around the pupils. Although not as striking as the other two types, central heterochromia is the most common type. For instance, someone with blue eyes may have an inner brown ring around the pupil.
Segmental heterochromia:
It is also known as heterochromia iridis, occurs when a patch of different color appears in one iris. Most common is blue eyes, with one having a brown speck or patch in the iris. This type is usually the most noticeable do to the drastic difference from one eye to the other due to the patch of color showing in only one eye.
Complete heterochromia:
It is also known as heterochromia iridum, occurs when the two irises are completely different colors.
This is the rarest type and most likely to be genetic and born with the condition. Less than 200,000 Americans have been found to have complete heterochromia.
(This is the type that I have)
There are quite a few celebrities that actually have heterochromia. Some are extremely noticeable, as in David Bowie(complete), while another like Simon Pegg's(segmental) are not as extreme.
A few more to list are:
Mila Kunis
Jane Seymour
Dan Aykroyd
Joshua Henderson
Kiefer Sutherland
Elizabeth Berkley
and
Christopher Walken
There are several more you can read about and learn the types they have, which were born this way and which acquired it from injury or other.
I learned that even with all of these well known people, and myself having heterochromia, it is still considered a rare condition.
Heterochromia affects less than 1% of total human population!
I know some of you are thinking...because, I have heard this a million times.
"Wow, I've seen dogs with that!"
Yes, I'm sure we've all seen a dog or cat with different colored eyes. It definitely is more common in animals. I just didn't want to get into a whole other part of DNA and genetics with this post. You can learn more about heterochromia in animals by clicking the link a little farther down the page.
Since, I do actually have this, I wanted to learn more and share what I found.
You can always do some extra digging to find out more.
Here are just a couple refs. I pulled up.
I hope you've enjoyed today's post and maybe even learned something new.
I know I found a few statistics I didn't know and a few celebrities I wasn't aware had heterochromia.
Do you know anyone with this condition?
I'd love to hear about it.
Share pics/email or just comment and let me know!
Here's my little selfie collage!
2 comments:
This was an interesting read! Loving your blog!
Thank you so much.
I'm glad you enjoyed it.
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