• Question: why are some peoples eyes green

    Asked by maddy to Anna on 19 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Anna Scaife

      Anna Scaife answered on 19 Nov 2014:

      Hey Maddy – green is actually the rarest eye colour (my eyes are green 🙂 ) – only ~2% of the world have green eyes.

      The colour of someone’s eyes is a combination of genetics and the way that light scatters in the iris of the eye. Genetics determines the amount of a chemical called melanin that you have in your eye and that’s mainly what determines your eye colour. Other bits of your genes can also cause changes in that like speckling. Melanin also contributes to other things like skin tone and hair colour.

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