You might remember from school; you’d fill out a Punnett square for determining eye colors. The only factors that went into it were the color of the dad’s eyes, and the color of the mom’s eyes.
It claimed that brown was the dominant color and blue was the recessive color. Now, scientists are starting to think that might not be the whole explanation.
Going back to the same scenario, the result for two blue-eyed parents would always be a blue-eyed child. No exception. We’re starting to see that’s not actually true. It seems like eye color is governed by a couple of different genes.
Science Behind Eye Color
For us, eye color is due to how much light reflects from your iris which is the part of the eye that lets light enter. Our color depends on how much melanin pigments we have in the iris. Blue eyes have a really small amount of pigment, and brown eyes have a very high amount.
Doctors in Oculoplastic Surgery
Recent news has identified eight genes which determine your eye color. So it’s not as simple as Punnett square! Beyond that, doctors who specialize in oculoplastic surgery will tell you that they’ll have patients whose eye color doesn’t match their parents.
Colors to the Contrary
The current figures predict that only three-fourths of your eye color actually depends on this previously believed genetic description. There are plenty of people with either brown or blue eyes that have a color contrary to what this model would predict.
