• Question: why cant are eyes be red

    Asked by Black ops pro 77 to Ciarán on 14 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Ciarán O'Brien

      Ciarán O'Brien answered on 14 Nov 2014:

      The genes in our DNA that tell the body how to make eyes usually have instructions on what colours to add in the form of melanin. Melanin is mostly brownish black, and that’s why brown eyes are so common. there’s a pinkish red form of melanin called pheomelanin that you find a lot of in your lips, and that’s what makes them redder than the rest of you. The genes that make your eyes simply don’t say there should be much, if any, pheomelanin in there. Even if there was no black/brown melanin and some pheomelanin, the way the iris of you eye is built scatters light through it to make it look blue, so red eyes just aren’t possible without contact lenses.

      You can have pinkish red eyes if you have albinism, but that’s not very worthwhile as it causes a load of other problems like getting skin cancer more easily.

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