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October 4th, 2007, 18:51 GMT · By Stefan Anitei
One Eye Is Blue, the Other One Is Brown: a Mysterious Disease |
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Heterochromia is a condition best recognized by the different coloring of one's eyes, hair or skin. The most common type is heterochromia iridis or heterochromia iridium, where the irises can either have an entirely different hue from one another (complete heterochromia) or only differently discolored spots (partial heterochromia or sectoral heterochromia).
These differences in color are determined by variations of the melanin pigment within an iris, due to genetic causes (like Horner's syndrome), mosaicism (mutation occurred during the development of the fetus), disease or injury. Heterochromia can also be hereditary. The affected iris can be either hyperpigmented (hyperchromic) or hypopigmented (hypochromic), which is usually related to hyperplasia (overgrowth) or hypoplasia (underdevelopment) of the iris tissues. The melanocytes (cells of the iris that contain melanin) do not synthesize in the absence of innervations and unilateral congenital or birth injuries of these nerves induce heterochromia. But the presence of this different eye discoloration can be causes by a wide range of conditions such as iris coloboma (gaps in one of the eye structures), which also results in heterochromia, the darker iris being the affected one.
There's also microphthalmia (small eyes), determined by mutation or fetal alcohol syndrome, neoplasms (benign tumors) in the iris that can change the color of just one eye (e.g. Lisch nodules) and melanosis (the abnormal increase of melanocytes). Individuals suffering from albinism, piebaldism (partial albinism), incontinentia pigmenti (hypopigmentation) are all prone to heterochromia. But heterochromia can also be induced by means of external factors, like accidental iron deposits in the eye, iritis (iris infection) and the use of certain eye-drops. Heterochromia is much more common in animals than in humans, particularly in some breeds of cats (with one copper/orange eye and one blue eye), dogs and horses ("wall-eyed" with one brown and one white/blue eye), as well as in water buffalos. In cats, the most likely to have the disease are the Japanese Bobtails, the Turkish Vans and the Turkish Angoras while in dogs the Siberian Huskies, Australian Shepherds and Border Collies. Partial or sectoral heterochromia is a lot less frequent than complete heterochromia and it's usually associated with genetic diseases like Hirschsprung's and the Waardenburg syndrome.
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| Comment #1 by: kelly on 25 Dec 2008, 21:05 UTC | reply to this comment | i am 16 years old and i have one blue eye and one brown but i am blind in the brown eye i would like two find out more about this and if anything can be changed for my eyes two be the same ?
please email me back
x |
| Comment #1.1 by: EllieRae on 04 Jan 2009, 03:49 GMT | I have hecterochromia, but there is nothing wrong with my eyes. If you want your eyes to be the same color, there is 3 options.
One, you could buy contacts. Not as pricey as option 2.
Two, there is actally a operation doctors can do on your eyes to make them match. I have heard the surgery is NOT painful, mostly just an irritation. You would be perscribed eyedrops to help the healing of the eye, and there would be NO scars. (I did read the process of the surgery. You are put under.)
Three, there are actually eyedrops that "Lighten" the eye. (Lighten the color.)
I refuse to try and change my eye color, because it interestes a lot of people. I like how they comment on my eyes.
--------
Now, if you are talking about the whole blind in one eye thing, I think there is surgery to help the vision. I'm not sure if it would help.
BEST OF LUCK KELLY! |
| Comment #1.2 by: Bryan S on 16 Sep 2009, 18:39 GMT | why would you want them the same?
Do you know how rare you are?
Dont give in to folks and thier comments, have pride in yourself and be glad you have vision. |
| Comment #1.3 by: kiwikid on 20 Oct 2011, 20:20 GMT | whats the name of those eye drops? i have a forest green eye and the other is a very bright blue and it scares ppl, mostly little kids, and id like to try and and lighten my green eye so i dont scare anyone being how im an EMT and Firefighter and come across lots of ppl |
| Comment #2 by: Ruth on 02 Apr 2009, 05:06 UTC | reply to this comment | I am 24 years old and I have one brown and one green eye, sort of, my green eye has central heterochromia with brown being the central ring and my brown eye has a "pie slice" of green (secular heterochromia) I was born this way and haven't ever had vision problems, but I do suffer from severe migraines that are un-treatable. I'm just glad to see that I am not the only one who hears ". . . Wow, are your eyes? . . . that is sooooo cool" mid conversation! I hope you can find the answers you seek! |
| Comment #2.1 by: Bryan S. on 16 Sep 2009, 18:45 GMT | I have had brown and blue eyes all my life. Very noticeable since birth. I have great pride in myself and confidence. I have had NO vision problems since birth and now I am 43. It has 'wowed' alot of folks, thinking I had installed contacts of different colors on purpose. Not a chance. My Drivers licence says blue and brown : ) Everyone at the DMV thinks it's very cool.
Hell all the women I have met, think it is VERY cool and unique. |
| Comment #2.2 by: Jenny on 26 Oct 2010, 19:50 GMT | Have you had your pressure checked in your eyes? People with different colored eyes, like you and me, also are at a higher than normal rate at having glucoma. I'm sure I mispelled that! My eyes are very senstive to light and I was having migranes. My eye doctor checked my pressures and they were 2200 and the normal range is 1200. It is very easy to treat, just use a drop in each eye every night before bed and that's it. The only side affect of the drop is that it makes your eye lashes thicker and longer, that is just a plus in my book! Let me know if you get them checked. |
| Comment #3 by: sally gunton on 18 Apr 2009, 19:20 UTC | reply to this comment | I am 48 and have one brown eye and one green couldnt believe when i went to specsavers for a sight test he asked me whether i had ever been refered to a doctor i dont think he believed me when i said they had been like it since i was born never had any problems with sight only need glasses for reading as you do when you get to my age its nice to be a bit differant a lot of people dont notice them |
| Comment #4 by: Erin on 17 Jun 2009, 20:04 UTC | reply to this comment | I have central heterochromia in my right eye - a green ring directly around the pupil but the rest of the outer iris blue. And sectoral heterochromia in my left eye - a brown patch in an otherwise blue eye. I inherited it from my Grandma and have no problems with vision etc.
Re: sally gunton - I can't believe that happened at specsavers! You would think professional optometrists would have heard of this phenomena! |
| Comment #5 by: Bryan S. on 16 Sep 2009, 18:35 UTC | reply to this comment | I have a brown and a blue eyes and proud of it. When I was a kid, I was teased constantly, about the mailman,postman, etc. It made me strong, and I think very rare. I have been all around the world, and I have met only two people in my life, that had the same color in each eye. I am truely different than most, and would like to meet more folks like myself. |
| Comment #6 by: Hailie on 22 Oct 2009, 23:05 UTC | reply to this comment | I wish I did have full heterochromia. All my eyes do with their brownish hazel color are turn greener when I get mad or sad. Are little specks of red normal? |
| Comment #7 by: Ian Smith on 28 Oct 2009, 17:16 UTC | reply to this comment | A Disease???? I am very insulted. I have sectoral heterochromia iridis, as did one of my great-grandfathers and as does one of my uncles. It has absolutely no effect on my eyesight - in fact my affected eye is stronger than the non-affected one. How can something be a disease when the ONLY symptom is a difference in iris colouration? I suppose you consider red hair and freckles to be a disease too! This is shamefully xenophobic. |
| Comment #7.1 by: jkwilliams58 on 16 Nov 2011, 18:50 GMT | i agree!! when they say disease I'm like whaaat?? sure my left eye (partial heterochromia green with an inner ring or hazel/amber color) isn't as strong as my right eye (just brown) but it's kinda offensive that people consider it a disease. i'm also left handed and i think i'm pretty special and so are the other people out there who have such a cool eye condition :) |
| Comment #8 by: Danielle on 06 Jan 2010, 20:27 UTC | reply to this comment | I am 23 years old and was born with blue eyes. When I was about 6 months old, one eye turned brown and the other stayed brown. I have never had any eye problems and have perfect vision. I am the oldest of 7 and am the only one in my immediate family with this, However one of my 1st cousins on my mothers side have a sectoral. His eyes are brown and one has a spot that is blue. I have always wondered why my eyes are so different. When I was in elementary school I was called a mutt and was told that one of my parents were a dog. I hated school for this. Now that I am older I love the fact that I am unique and wouldn't change it. I just love it when someone you have known for years says "whao you have 2 different colored eyes"... |
| Comment #9 by: kay kent on 25 Mar 2010, 23:25 UTC | reply to this comment | I have one blue eye with centre brown ,one green eye with centre brown with pie section of blue.My fathers sister had the same,but by the time she died they had both turned grey! I am in my 60s and have no need of glasses and have had no problems.Don't you love it when someone says"Oh, do you know you have two different coloured eyes?" Nah, I didn't know that, really? |
| Comment #9.1 by: Becca on 23 Aug 2010, 05:35 GMT | Hi everyone...I have heterochromia as everyone here, but my left eye is blue/grey and my right is green/brown. I haven't seen very many others with this variation...I too have heard all my life the line..."Did you know your eyes are two different colors?"
It vertainly does make for interesting conversation, and I would never want to change them either. I do not know of anyone else in my family who has had the same thing with different eye color. |
| Comment #9.2 by: Amber on 16 Dec 2011, 20:13 GMT | I have one blue/grey eye and the other is hazel green/brown. My eyes at birth appeared blue as well and then one changed a few short months after I was born. Because of this color combination it is not shockingly obvious. People do notice sometimes, especially if I am looking into the sunlight. My hazel eye is the same color as my Dad's eyes but my mother has green eyes. I do not know of anyone in my family that has eyes like mine. One of my cousins has a partial in one eye. His eyes are mostly blue but he has a green spot in one eye. Like others in this thread, when I was little there were kids who'd say "I had a dog like that once". Being compared to a dog all the time is not very appealing but I am now proud to say I have Complete Heterochromia. |
| Comment #10 by: keria on 08 Jul 2010, 03:37 UTC | reply to this comment | i think its cute 2 have heterochromia my cousin nd her dog has it blue nd brown |
| Comment #11 by: Mikell on 29 Jul 2010, 19:13 UTC | reply to this comment | I have the same thing, one green with CH (brown) and one brown, with a SH "piece of pie" green!! I'm 40 and have met only 5 people my whole life, who have HI but all of them had one brown one blue. |
| Comment #11.1 by: bonnnielou on 30 Oct 2010, 02:20 GMT | Hi everyone, I have a hazel eye and a brown eye, no history in my family, I'm 54 and have never met anyone with this condition.....some say its from twins combining instead of becoming 2. I also enjoy all the comments |
| Comment #12 by: Sherman on 01 Sep 2010, 19:34 UTC | reply to this comment | I have one brown eye and one green eye, but there isnt anything wrong with me, i love my eyes. My mother has green and my dad had brown. Im them both :) |
| Comment #13 by: JR on 16 Sep 2010, 20:37 UTC | reply to this comment | Today's world is about being distinct. Your eyes are way cool. Judging from your picture your also very beautiful. Live on and enjoy! |
| Comment #14 by: mand on 24 Sep 2010, 19:51 UTC | reply to this comment | my niece is 12 weeks old and has one blue eye and one half blue half brown we dont know if they will change as baby's eyes change colour up to 9 months old i hope they stay the same as we think she is lovely as she is |
| Comment #14.1 by: bumblebee on 06 Oct 2010, 12:52 GMT | eye color can change until the age of two. My son has one brown eye and one brown with 1/3 blue it has been that way since he was born,also the blue part gets bigger and smaller and you can see blue glowing behind the brown on the half eye. no one in my or my husbands family has this and i have been reading and have not come across anyone with a solid brown eye and the other half brown/blue. most of what i have read is a solid blue eye and half brown/blue. my eyes are brown and my husbands are blue,we love how our child is unique and hope he will love it to. |
| Comment #15 by: Casije on 26 Oct 2010, 21:51 UTC | reply to this comment | I am 19 and was born with both blue eyes. Some time after i was born, not sure when, my right eye turned brown...kinda. It turned half brown. The top of it is all brown and the bottom all blue. Half and half. I love my eyes and its something to be proud of!! |
| Comment #15.1 by: Eli on 02 Feb 2012, 18:41 GMT | My Daughter was also born with blue eyes and changed her color after a couple of months,now she has a blue eye and a brown eye with a blue triangle on the top section of her eye. In our family from both sides we all have blue eyes, no one with brown! |
| Comment #16 by: Dillon on 22 Nov 2010, 04:40 UTC | reply to this comment | I have sectoral heterochromia in both eyes but the amount of blue in my right eye changes often. should i be worried? |
| Comment #17 by: vero on 05 Jan 2011, 06:43 UTC | reply to this comment | My daughter has one eye brown and the other is blue and brown. |
| Comment #18 by: JustinBieber4evaa on 19 Apr 2011, 00:23 UTC | reply to this comment | ive beem told its perfectly normal for border collies, huskys, etc. to have one blue eye and one brown eye. |
| Comment #19 by: tammy on 12 May 2011, 00:49 UTC | reply to this comment | my left eye is blue my right eye is half blue and half brown my favorite question is "do you know you have two diferent color eyes " duh i look at them everyday |
| Comment #20 by: nicey on 26 Jun 2011, 06:45 UTC | reply to this comment | my eye have change color they have been green then they went gray , blue , now one is blue and the other is gray but look like a cat eye |
| Comment #21 by: pondrthis on 12 Jul 2011, 17:15 UTC | reply to this comment | Call me a weirdo, but heterochromia is so sexy to me. All of my girlfriends have had some kind of it... if only I could find someone with complete heterochromia. It would be love at first sight (no pun intended). |
| Comment #22 by: huckfin on 20 Jul 2011, 23:15 UTC | reply to this comment | I have a brown and blue eye and would not change a thing!huckfin |
| Comment #22.1 by: shanamaran22 on 05 Mar 2012, 21:48 GMT | hi i think that this is so cool and i never met or talked to anyone else like me. I used to have one blue and one brown eye but now one of mine are black and one is light brown. My friends think this is cool and they wish they were like meof almost everyone here |
| Comment #23 by: Viktoria on 23 Aug 2011, 00:34 UTC | reply to this comment | Hi, I'm 15 and got partial heterochromia. My left eye has got three colors, green as my right, a forth brown and a really small and hard to see part of blue.
My aunt also got partial heterochromia, but just two colored. What fascinates me, how long colors need to stay in your DNS. I mean, my parents an grandparents don't have brown eyes, but as my aunt has the brown area, too, so it has too be of an earlier ancestor in that family-line and a part of that one still lives (that visible) in me :)
I wouldn't want to change a thing about it.
LG Viktoria |
| Comment #24 by: Karen from essex uk on 01 Sep 2011, 21:08 UTC | reply to this comment | Soon after birth my left eye turned dark brown the other stayed blue. When i was about 8 i had cloudy eyes, was sent to eye hospital. My blue eye turned green with hazel round the pupil...but in the white of my brown eye the blue pigment stained patches in the white bit!
Then i had cloudy eyes again when 25 and the dark brown eye went lighter!
Im 39 now and recent eye tests show i have perfect vision :)
I love my unique eyes and always love people saying 'ooo different coloured eyes' Even as a kid being called a witch never bothered me! |
| Comment #25 by: Rhyan93 on 20 Sep 2011, 05:36 UTC | reply to this comment | I'm 18 and I have one blue eye and one green and l was born this way, I have a question though. I always had a lazy eye growing up as a baby is was really bad but now it's not so noticeable, and i also don't sweat on one side of my face at all never have and my blue eye never dialates. I was wondering of you guys have the same thing?? |
| Comment #26 by: ALIX on 24 Sep 2011, 03:45 UTC | reply to this comment | i'm 17 with one blue eye and one green eye. my mom also has one blue eye and one green but isn't as noticable. I do need glasses but so does most of my family. also, both my eyes have the same vision. I also get alot of headaches and my blue eye never dialates. but I was wondering if it's normal my blue eye is lazy? |
| Comment #27 by: nana on 16 Oct 2011, 01:31 UTC | reply to this comment | This is so interesting. Good content of this information. |
| Comment #28 by: DanL on 21 Oct 2011, 11:56 UTC | reply to this comment | I never thought of it as a disease, just a abnormality. It has always given David Bowie a distinct look. It can be an enhancement. I would rather have this condition than many others that I could imagine. |
| Comment #29 by: gina on 27 Oct 2011, 23:53 UTC | reply to this comment | I was born with one blue eye and one brown eye with a triangle blue in the bottom of the brown eyes ...i stood out of the common one blue and brown eyes and i m proud of it. i dont consider it a disease more like a dna imprint how we stand out. I love it and would love to show my pics however cant upload one. people have often noticed my triangle blue as if was a sun shining coming out of the brown eye it was unique and wouldn't change it for the world. Gina |
| Comment #29.1 by: Brendon on 28 Oct 2011, 19:35 GMT | Im a 16 year old boy and my left eye is royal blue and my right eye is dark brown. i dont think its a disease because it cant spred to others. I like being different than other people and standing out in the crowd. I am also glad to be a rare ^_^ if im correct (please correct me if im not) its a mutation makeing people like me verry rare ^_^ its only common in animals if i remember right. Im proud to be unique. but we do live in a world were its either cool or wrong. i live in a part were its more one than the other. i thought about being "normal" for a while with contacts but my vision is 20/10 so i dont need them :p but i also like people who say its awsome to be like this so i will until i die ^o^ who will join me? |
| Comment #30 by: nadf;adskfj on 07 Nov 2011, 22:31 UTC | reply to this comment | My friend has two eyes are two different colors and she has no idea why. one is blue and one is green. she is 13. |
| Comment #30.1 by: brian harrison on 11 Nov 2011, 23:39 GMT | im 35 years old and my eyes are sky blue , but my right eye has a piece of pie slice that is brown as can be.the right eye is perfect and the solid blue one is pretty screwed up and very sensative to light so i wish both of them had a brown spot.glad i found this page |
| Comment #31 by: SMILEY on 15 Nov 2011, 14:26 UTC | reply to this comment | HI IM FROM CANADA IM 47 YARS OLD AND I WAS BORN WITH A BLEU EYE AND A BROWN EYE
I LOVE IT EVERYONE THINK THIS IS COOL AND YES WE ARE DEFFRENTE AND ITS OK ...I DONT KNOW AND I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT THE STATISTC FOR THAT WHAT THE POURCENTAGE THNK YOU GUYLAINE |
| Comment #32 by: hg on 18 Nov 2011, 01:46 UTC | reply to this comment | I have one blue eye and one green what does this mean |
| Comment #33 by: LovinXavier on 02 Jan 2012, 10:49 UTC | reply to this comment | Hi! I'm from Malaysia an have 1 eye brown and 1 eye with a slight tinge of green... I think it's called sectoral heterochromia... Is it more common in Coccasions then in Asians? I haven't seen anyone with eyes like mine before... Not in person at least.. is it some form of mutation or it's quite normal....? |
| Comment #34 by: isobel43 on 05 Jan 2012, 23:27 UTC | reply to this comment | hi i am 43 years old and i was born with one complete brown eye and one complete light blue eye , this was noticible from birth i was also born with a few teeth . Thus the midwife used to say to my mum that it would bring me luck. I have had a few problems with cysts in my eyes and extreme pain i dont know if this has anything to do with my eye colour and no one else in my family has ever had this |
| Comment #34.1 by: Daniel on 13 Jan 2012, 17:26 GMT | My mom has a recessive genetic disorder which causes her to have heterochromia and also to be blind in one eye due to neural degeneration.
The rest of us in the family who don't have 2 recessives have really colorful eyes without heterochromia. My eyes include blues, greens, yellows and greys.
I am just now looking up what my mom's disorder was again, because it's difficult to find on the internet. I found it once though. |
| Comment #35 by: oneinamillion on 14 Jan 2012, 14:22 UTC | reply to this comment | I have one blue eye and one brown eye and didn't previously know that I have heterochromia which is a disease! I just thought that I had one blue eye and one brown eye! You live and learn - I have been in ignorance of my 'disease' for the past seventy five years. I read somewhere, when I was a teenager, that people with one blue eye and one brown eye are one in a million and that was fine by me. |
| Comment #35.1 by: Eli on 02 Feb 2012, 18:46 GMT | Who says that heterochromia is a disease? Ialso thought until now that they were just different colored. Do people with heterochromia have more problems with there eyes? |
| Comment #37 by: shanamaran22 on 05 Mar 2012, 21:29 UTC | reply to this comment | when i was little i was born with black hair and blue eyes.when i was about 3 or 4 one of my eyes were blue and one was brown, and my hair was brown. now one of my eyes are almost black, and my other eye is light brown.now my hair is light brown. i think that it is really cool/interesting. |
| Comment #38 by: gemoneyc on 10 Mar 2012, 02:52 UTC | reply to this comment | What if my dogs eye just turned blue and the other eyes brown |
| Comment #39 by: Doc on 27 Apr 2012, 05:33 UTC | reply to this comment | Her eyes are georgeous I want them/her lol |
| Comment #40 by: Kenziaa on 16 May 2012, 16:34 UTC | reply to this comment | My pup has one blue eye and one brown, What dose it mean ? Should i go to th vet? Ive seen many things on the internet and im gettin worried ..... Please help! | |
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