Where to Blue Eyes Come From?

Your genes determine whether you have blue eyes. If you inherit blue-eye genes from your parents, it means that your eyes will have less of a pigment called melanin in them. This doesn't just make them look blue—it can also make you at higher risk for develop certain health problems compared to people with other eye colors.

This article discusses where blue eyes come from and how having blue eyes may increase your risk for certain health conditions.

Why Some Eyes Are Blue

The iris is the colored part of your eye that has multiple layers. The top layer, called the epithelium, is where the melanin (pigment) that gives an eye its color lives.

Blue eyes lack melanin in the iris. The blue hue comes not from pigment, but from the light reflecting on the water in the eye and through layers below. So, at least from a biological standpoint, blue eyes are actually colorless.

Genetics of Blue Eyes

Both parents have to pass along the blue eye gene in order for their child to have blue eyes. That doesn't necessary mean that the parents themselves have to have blue eyes; it's possible they carry the gene, but it is recessive. However, a blue-eyed child is almost certain if both parents have blue eyes.

Blue eyes actually didn't exist 10,000 years ago. Researchers believe there is one ancestor responsible for blue eyes that descended from the Black Sea region of southeastern Europe anywhere between 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.

This one person with a genetic mutation had children, and the trait was passed to the next generation. As that generation had children and moved around, the blue eye mutation continued to spread across many parts of the globe. 

This means everyone with blue eyes has one thing in common—they're all related. Blue eyes may have developed due an evolutionary response to the dark winters prevalent in Northern Europe. In theory, blue eyes may protect a person from acquiring vision disorders caused by these periods.

Impact on Your Health

Eye color is about more than appearance. Studies have shown that having blue eyes can be a starting point for figuring out why people develop certain health conditions.

For example, researchers are looking at the connection between having blue eyes and:

• Eye cancer
• Diabetes
• Macular degeneration
• Hearing loss

Blue Eyes and Eye Cancer

Eye health providers remind almost everyone with blue eyes to wear sunglasses to reduce their risk of potential eye cancers like eye melanoma. In the same way, you can get melanoma on your skin, you can also get melanoma in your eye. 

Eye melanoma is known to be more common for those with fair skin and light-colored eyes. While ocular melanomas may happen at any age, the risk goes up as you get older.

Blue Eyes and Type 1 Diabetes

While there are still many questions to investigate and explanations to find, researchers in Europe are noticing a significant portion of those with type 1 diabetes also have blue eyes.

Blue Eyes and Macular Degeneration

The macula, which is at the retina's center, is susceptible to damage as you age. This damage will cause your vision to become blurrier and more distorted—a condition called macular degeneration.

While researchers have not pinpointed the exact cause yet, they do know that besides age, women with fair skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes have a significantly higher chance of developing macular degeneration. 

Blue Eyes and Hearing Loss

Scientists are looking into the possibility of those who have blue eyes being at higher risk for sensorineural hearing loss.

This form of hearing loss comes from damage to the inner ear or to the nerve going from the ear to the brain. Since the inner ear uses melanin, and blue eyes come from a lack of melanin, some researchers hypothesize there may be a link between eye color and acquired hearing loss.

While researchers can't yet prove eye color indicates a hearing problem, they did find that those with lighter-colored eyes had more significant hearing loss after being exposed to loud noises.

Summary

Blue eyes come from genetics. While you get the gene for blue eyes from your parents, everyone with blue eyes is related to the same ancestor from thousands of years ago.

If you have blue eyes, it means the iris part of your eyes lacks melanin. Technically, blue eyes don't have any color. They look blue because of how light is reflected.

Having blue eyes might increase your risk of certain health problems like type 1 diabetes and eye cancer. That's why it's important that you have regular eye exams and protect your eyes (for example, by wearing sunglasses).