Changing eye color! Now this is a great question posed to me by a good friend. Great question because part of the answer is....well we don't really know, however there are theories. The way the iris (colored part of the eye) is constructed is based on layers of pigment (color, what makes our skin either lighter or darker). The more layers we have the darker our iris appears to the world. So it's not like colors are picked, it's more like layers. For example with babies, sometimes they appear to have blue eyes when they are born but as time passes the iris will darken...just like the skin might be getting darker too. All this means is the baby is producing more pigment, a very normal development.
Now you may have guessed my good friend isn't a baby, she's a full grown adult woman. Therefore this questions is still interesting, can we still produce more or less pigment as we age? Maybe, it's a possible theory and this change in the iris happens in a least 10% of the aging population (mostly light eyes, sorry browns). Yet there is another reason that's possible too, mechanical rubbing on the iris. Meaning...something is rubbing on the iris so that layers start to decrease creating a lighter iris. The rubbing is not always normal, could be a space issue caused by inflammation or physical changes in the size of the eye. My best advice would be to rule out these causes by getting a complete eye exam including dilation. Make sure your doctor measures the pressure of your eye (glaucoma test), as this may also be affected. Don't fret now, this doesn't mean anything until we get all the test done.
See and Be Seen! at Eyed LA Optometry in Brentwood, West Los Angeles
www.eyedla.com
So very interesting!
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