MUTANT AND PROUD!

Photo from before my friend's Formal, but photo works great for this because my eyes stand out.

Late at night and can't sleep so I do what any normal person does and surf the net. and WOW did I find out some awesome stuff!! I AM A MUTANT! Actually I should probably phrase that more as, I have two mutations, which strangely enough BOTH consist in my eyes.... Yeah like I wasn't already weird enough.

Okay, so yes, I have brown in my right eye and it was only tonight that I actually found out what the name for that is. Yes, there IS a name for it. Heterochromia. Before the age of one most babies with European ancestry have light coloured eyes. As the child develops melanocytes, cells found within the iris, begin to produce melanin. Heterochromia is a mutation that refers to when there is multiple coloured eyes. (e.g. two completely different coloured eyes or a portion of an iris differently coloured to the rest.) This is caused by uneven melanin content, this can be caused by genetics or injury. There are three different kinds of heterochrmia, complete (Like David Bowie) or partial (like Angelia Jolie). And I just happen to have 'Sectoral Heterochromia", while the name for it can sound somewhat serious it's really not.

Also I found out that blue eyes are a mutation. I know it sounds crazy given the fact that these days blue eyes are exceedingly common, but mutations don't have to be rare. Alright, so first thing you’re going to have to understand is that blue eyes aren’t technically a colour, they’re the opposite, they’re lack of colour. Your eye colour is determined by pigment in the part of the iris called the stroma. If there is tiny amount of pigment (or none at all) result is blue eyes, mid amount of pigment results in green eyes and heaps of pigment makes brown eyes.

The OCA2 gene controls melanin. Centuries ago it’s thought that all humans had brown eyes, however one day a nearby gene mutated and began to limit OCA2’s ability to produce melanin in the iris, thus stopping melanin from colouring the eyes. This left the stroma blue and ta-da we now have blue eyes. Very common, but still a mutation. 

MUTANT AND PROUD!