Heterochromia: the two-coloured eye wonder that makes you go ‘wow’

Look carefully into the eyes of a husky or a Persian cat, sometimes you would find that each of their irises is a different colour. This condition, though uncommon, isn’t very rare and exists in humans too. Called heterochromia, it refers to the condition when a person has either two different eye colours or multiple colours in the same pupil. It may arise due to several reasons and at times even disturb vision. Here’s what you need to know about the rare condition — heterochromia.

Here’s what you need to know about heterochromia

Heterochromia may primarily arise due to two reasons. Congenital heterochormia is a condition when a person is born with different coloured eyes from birth. In this case, one does not feel any discomfort with their vision. They lead a normal life, with just different coloured eyes. They might, like most people develop vision shortages as they grow up and may have to move to spectacles or lenses. It might also lead to cataracts or glaucoma in their senior years. But overall, they lead a regular vision arc.

The second type of heterochromia is acquired heterochromia. This involves individuals acquiring different coloured eyes due to accidents or other medical issues. Under such circumstances, when your normal eye colour changes later in life, medical investigation is warranted. Acquired heterochromia may arise due to inflammation of iris. This may cause light sensitivity, vision blurring or mild pain in the eyes. If it is not treated then it can lead to other vision complications. Another reason to acquire this condition is due to Fuch’s heterochromic iridocyclitis which starts off with slight changes in the eye colour and can lead to something as serious as glaucoma or vision impairment if not detected and treated on time. Other reasons can be traumatic eye or head injury or internal bleeding in the eye.

In neither of the cases does change in eye colour affect vision, but the underlying causes might be the cause of certain vision issues and impairment. Thus, whether congenital or acquired, one must regularly go for eye check-ups at least once a year.

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