While reading The Huffington Post yesterday, I came across this article about a doctor who created a procedure that turns your eyes blue. Dr. Homer uses a laser to remove the darker pigment from the eyes which reveals a layer of blue under that. Apparently, brown eyes actually have blue under the brown. The article doesn't go into depth about green eyes or about if this is why many babies start out with blue eyes and then develop brown eyes as they mature.
Luckily, Wikipedia covers all of this. Yes, it does seem that this related to how a baby can be born with blue eyes but grow into a brown eyed child. The layer of pigmentation, which causes the eyes to appear brown, develops after birth and covers the blue eyes. There are different processes that lead someone to have brown, green, blue, or any other color of eyes. It seems possible that Dr. Homer is only able to remove the brown layer, leaving it unclear what would happen if he tried his procedure on someone with green eyes. Huffington post explains that only 20% of people have blue eyes, but Wiki mentions that green eyes are even rarer.
Personally, I prefer dark brown eyes. I'd be sad to see people lining up to have their dark eyes laser-ed away. My eyes are brown. I was born with blue eyes and they stayed that way until I was a few years old. Then, they darkened to a hazel color about the same as my mother's eyes. When I was in late telemetry school or early middle school they darkened yet again until they were decidedly brown with only the faintest hint of green or yellow. They are now like a pond in the forest, deep brown with the faintest touch of pond scum here and there. Wikipedia points out that changing eye color later than infancy is very rare and often brought on by disease or trauma (10 to 15% of people change eye color later in life) but that the most common genetic color change is from hazel to brown. I experienced no disease or trauma. I guess that means it was genetically motivated.
Bottom line: I like brown eyes. My eyes are rarer than blue eyes. Dr. Homer is possibly a shallow person.
dinosaurs.
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