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health advisory Hospital Doctor Yu 2007-11-8 19:08:16

As dark skin protects people from UV rays, how does eye color help us?

Answers:

Eye color is believed to help protect your retina from the sunlight, but that's not really true -- it doesn't matter.

Your iris is made up of fibers, and the colors vary, depending on your genetics. There's no real explanation to why eye color is the way it is.

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good question, but the answer to your first question: genetics

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it's another way God shows how unique each and every one of us is.

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all to do with genes. Specifically DNA.

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I am blue - eyed, and affected by glare, more than many other people. My optometrist says that this is more of a problem in blue eyed people than people with dark irises.

The colour of the iris depends on the presence of melanocytes, which make melanin. In some people, these can make a lot of melanin, and the iris is brown. Others make less, giving hazel or green irises.

Blue irises have nearly no melanin in them; the colour results from light being refracted by structures in the iris. These unpigmented irises do let through some light, leading to glare problems.

BTW, the white part of the eyeball has an opaque dark layer inside, which blocks stray light.

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