• Question: Why do some people have a different colour in each eye?

    Asked by hannahjanehunt to Antonia, Douglas, Hugh, Matt, Tom on 15 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Matthew Hurley

      Matthew Hurley answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Having eyes of different colours is called heterochromia. It’s genetic and very similar to why tabby cats are tabbys – different colours.

    • Photo: Tom Hardy

      Tom Hardy answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      This is actually quite common and it is called heterochromia. It is usually the part of the eye called the iris that differs in colour. But sometimes people can have different coloured hair and skin too. It is all down to your body having too much or too little of a pigment called melanin. Melanin is produced by special cells called melanocytes. Genetic mutations during conception can result in people having more or less of these cells than others. This is totally harmless but more or less melanocytes results in an increased or a decreased production of the pigment melanin and this causes the different in eye colour.

Comments