Thursday, February 23, 2012

Heterochromia iridis

I had a cat years back which had eyes with two different eye colors, one gray and one blue. The vet told me the condition was called Heterochromia iridis or Heterochromia iridum . Later after googling for this condition, I found out that it is not only restricted to cats and dogs but also found in humans.

Heterochromia is a medical condition when a difference in coloration is present in the eyes, hair or the skin. It is caused by the excess or lack of melanin,which is primary for body coloration. It can be genetic, inherited or due to some disease or injury.

Heterochromia iridis is a special condition when the color of the iris varies in an individual. It can be


1) Complete- when one iris is of a different color from the other.

 I don't have a snap of my cat but it looked some what like this,except that its right eye was gray and not green. Looked really creepy at night.
This picture clearly shows that the two eyes have two very different colors, the left iris blue and the right brown.
 
The Friends with Benefits star, Mila Kunis has complete Heterochromia iridis, one eye brown and the other greenish hazel. Click on the images to have a closer look.

2) Partial or Sectoral - Where two different colors are present in the same iris.
This picture clearly shows how the same iris has two different colors, brown and greenish gray.

These are Kate Bosworth's eyes. She has partial Heterochromia iridis, her left eye is partially brown.

There is a special case in this category called Central heterochromia where the two irises are of the same color but the central region is of a different color from the peripheral zone. This is probably the most common  form of Heterochromia iridis in humans.
Clearly visible,this eye had a brownish coloration in the center whereas the rest of the iris is green.

Have you known anyone who had or has this condition??

All images are taken from the internet and information is partially taken from wikipedia.

36 comments:

  1. My grandma had a cat named Ruby who suffered from this condition. I have not met any one in person (Homo sapien) who suffers from this rare condition though.

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    1. Yeah cats are pretty common with this condition,I have known cats which changed their eye color from blue to gray as they grew up.

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    2. why do you use the term suffer? They aren't suffering at all!

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    3. @Unknown_Well,since it is a medical condition,the term suffer has been used...she did not mean it to refer to pain or suffering or agony. :) Thanks for the comment

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    4. I have Central heterochromia, I've always thought my eyes where a light brown but 4 years ago, one of my friends said I have green in my eye. I looked and she was right, I did. I'm 23 and I don't suffer from it. I just think I'm blessed and it just makes my eyes pop out more.

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  2. Oh! That's sooo spooky. I would like that if i had it!! !

    ♡ from © tanvii.com

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    1. Yeah even i was wondering how I would have looked if I had a green and a brown eye :P

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  3. This is creepy..Never knew about this :O

    Love
    http://www.meghasarin.blogspot.com
    Catch me on FB:)
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/MeghaSarin/276091209123944

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  4. ouch....never heard about this before...sounds interesting though!:)
    btw I too had a cat earlier and somehow reading your post I am missing him badly :(

    http://bongsbelleza.blogspot.com/

    Love,

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    1. yeah the whole idea of having two different eye colors is really awesome. I miss my kitty too :(

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  5. I have it. I have one light brown eye and one very dark brown almost black eye. I have had so many people notice it my whole life. It makes you feel different in a good way

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    1. Hello Courtney, thanks for dropping by.
      Wow!! thats really cool...I wish i had it... :D

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  6. i've read about heterochromia form this book --- Wither (the trilogy of the chemical garden) and i'm really amazed that it is present in real life :O

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    1. Thanks for mentioning the book,I'll try to grab it. thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I haven't come across a human in real life though.

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  7. I happen to have been blessed with centralized heterochromia. Uneducated people believe my eyes to be hazel when in fact they are green with the central flair of brownish/orange. Ironic that I have a 6 month old cat with complete heterochromia, we actually named her Chromia. And it IS scary to see her eyes at night. =) I really enjoyed this article.

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    1. Wow...central heterochromia is actually the most fascinating to me. It makes the eyes look like the phase during solar or lunar eclipse. Lucky you!!
      Chromia is such a cute name,am sure its a lovely kitty. Thank you so much for liking the post and leaving your comment :)

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  8. David Bowie had this...

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    1. Am a little unsure of David Bowie because some sources say that he has a permanently dilated pupil and his eyes may look different because of it. Thanks for dropping in :)

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  9. I have central heterochromia. Blue with green in the center. Never realized it was a form of heterochromia though :)And that's interesting about Mila Kunis, I never would've noticed

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    1. Thank you Ayverie. :) Lucky you!! How I wish I had eyes with different colors :D Am glad the post helped :)

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  10. I have central heterochromias. My eyes are blue and the center is orange. It looks like I have sunflowers in my eyes. It actually looks pretty cool. I love it :)

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    1. Blue eyes with orange center is so cool!! :D I would love to see how that looks!! Perhaps you can send me a pic of your eyes,can you??

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  11. I worked as a nurse for cataract surgeon who looked at my eyes and told me that my eye color was very rare. Brown center, hazel/green perimeter. Many people think I wear colored contacts.
    I love my color eyes. I do feel blessed!

    Joanne

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    1. Hellow Joanne,
      Thanks for dropping in.
      Brown and green must look so amazing. Lucky you!! Who would want contacts when your natural eye color is that awesome!!

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  12. I have both central and sectoral heterchromia. Both eyes have a brown ring around the pupil, but my left eye is half blue and half green while my right eye is completely green with the brown ring. The brown helps make my eyes look the same when I'm not in direct sunlight but when there's a lot of light, people notice my blue eye.

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  13. I have heterochromia C: Blue and brown.

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  14. I have Central heterochromia.
    This is a photo of my right eye close up. They are both the same.
    It doesnt effect my vision, I have fair to normal vision, that is easily corrected with glasses or contacts.
    I have hoshimotos disease, which is an autoimmune disease that causes my body to attack and kill my thyroid and I have to take synthetic hormone replacement... but I dont know if the trait is linked to that, or it is just a general pigmentation mutation.
    https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/528514_342737149144857_830396427_n.jpg

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  15. i have this, right eye green left eye brown, its a blessing

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  16. i have central and some sectoral as well... they blend really well so most people dont even notice it until i point it out *kinda like mila kunis* its pretty unexciting but here is a link to a pic if interested...
    http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/sornlia/kat-1-1.jpg

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  17. David Bowie had an eye injury when he was younger. It caused one of his pupils to be permanently dilated, and misshapen. My step mother has a pupil that is always dilated fully. Makes her look like she has one black eye, and one bright green one. She was born that way.

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  18. I found this site interesting and left me with a lot of questions answered. My right eye is completely green and my left is half bright blue and half brown. i was teased a lot when i was younger but have grown to love my eyes. It was nice seeing so many other ppl in your pictures with the same thing. we posses a rare beauty and i can now see that. Thanx (-:

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  19. i have it -one eye is blue and one is green

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  20. I have partial and central heterochromia. My right eye is blue with a yellow ring, and my left eye is the same, save for the lower third being green with a brown ring.

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  21. They can fix the color using lasers from stroma medical at $5,000. bucks.
    take the brown out to make it blue and they are perfecting the green color.

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  22. ya this looks a bit creepy, esp if you happen to look at someone with HI at night :P

    David Headley (terrorist) also has this condition in his eyes.

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