Why Humans Don’t Have All Black Eyes

The color of our eyes continues to develop and change until we reach 3 years of age. But if there’s one thing the human eye can’t do, it’s go completely black. In fact, many people’s eyes appear black from ambient light, the reflection of worn clothes, or even the use of contact lenses.

O awesome.club became curious to understand why humans with completely dark eyes only exist in fiction and made surprising discoveries. To find out what the rarest eye color in the world is, check out the bonus that we prepared at the end of the post!

The genes don’t allow

About 16 different genes are responsible for our eye color. Two of them are dominant, the so-called HERC2 and OCA2 genes. Both define human eye color through the amount of melanin present in our irises. The colors generated by the melanin in our eyes can vary within a wide range of shades, such as blue and gray, for example. The darkest possible color is dark brown, not black.

We would probably end up crying all the time

Black objects absorb more light so they can be seen as dark as they are. The excess light and energy absorbed are converted into heat, which is why, if nature had given us totally black eyes, most likely we would need large amounts of tears to prevent dryness and heating in the eye region.

The eyes would be unprotected from harmful lights

If we had completely black eyes, going out in daylight would be pretty difficult. That’s because sunlight contains ultraviolet (UV) rays, and black objects tend to absorb more UV light compared to other colors. Prolonged exposure to ultraviolet rays has the potential to harm eye health and cause problems such as cataracts or skin cancer. Fortunately, thanks to our genetic “makeup”, melanin gives color to the eyes, protecting them from harmful light. Studies have already pointed out that melanin is able to eliminate 99.9% of absorbed UV radiation, ridding the eyes of the damage that the sun can cause.

Read Also: 18 photos that show how the world is made up of people completely different from each other

Bonus: the rarest among eye colors

The rarest eye color is green. It is present in only 2% of the entire world population. There are rare cases of people with reddish or purplish eyes due to ocular albinism, while others have one eye of each color. This condition is called heterochromia.

What color are your eyes? If you could, would you change their hue? Among all the colors, which is your favorite? Leave a comment with your participation!