Do brown eyes see better than blue?

[Liayra]

I found this a pretty fun and interesting read. My only question is... does that mean that hazel eyes have the best of both worlds? Still... seeing as I have teal (or blue-green) eyes I will have to find a dark eyed SO to drive me around when we go out at night! Anyway, while I love my eyes, I find dark eyes pretty irresistible , specially those so dark that you can get lost within them!


Do brown eyes see better than blue?

Recent research shows that blue-eyed men prefer blue-eyed women. Thus it appears that, at least to some observers, eye colour is important.

But why do humans have different eye colours?

It mostly comes down to the amount and location of melanin (yes, the same substance which controls skin colour) in the human eye. Pale eyes such as blue, grey or green eyes contain little melanin, dark brown eyes more. Which eye colour you get is primarily determined from genetic variation based on the eye colour of your parents.

But does your eye colour influence how you see?

It turns out that it does. The darker the eyes, the more light is absorbed as light waves pass through the eye, and the less light is available to reflect within the eye. Light reflection (scatter) within the eye can cause susceptibility to glare (eg. sun or headlights) and to poor contrast discernment. Thus it seems that people with darker eyes may have better vision in high-glare situations – perhaps this makes them better night drivers, for example.

Eye colour may also affect your colour vision. Here it seems that lighter eyes may provide some advantages.

So it seems to me that blue-eyed people should really go for dark-eyed partners – this way one can pick the paint colours, and the other can drive home at night.

[Chris Brady]

I remember reading somewhere that every baby is born with blue eyes, and that they should change to the 'proper' colours after a couple of days or so.  Blue eyes is apparently a genetic defect, and more likely (not always) need corrective help during life.

Not sure how accurate that is, I can't seem to locate the article in question.

[Oniya]

Newborn Caucasian eyes are frequently a muddy-grey, and settle down to either a blue, green, hazel, or grey over the first few months.  Brown eyes are usually brown to stay.  It has to do with how much melanin the iris cells produce.  (Source)

[blackcatotaku]

The creature with the absolute best eye site found so far is the Mantis Shrimp; it has 16 color cones in each eye, humans have 3. It is a horrifying creature yet beautiful to behold I highly suggest you do a google image search to see its magnificence!!!  XD

[Purpitypurps]

I have brown eyes and my sight is awful! I have to wear glasses that help me see anything further then 20 feet. But I am a great driver at night, and daytime for that matter.
I read somewhere though that people that play First person shooters or "twitch reaction" games and are better then average at them have better reaction time while driving. I do believe this as my older brother who is very good at FPS (First person shooter) is also a great motorcycle racer, and can drift his toyota pretty damn well as well. I also react very well to sudden obstacles while driving. While driving at night down a curvy road in thick woodland (I was speeding a bit) I almost hit four animals all within about 5 minutes apart of each other. Two deer, one buck and some pitbull mix. The dog was a damn close call. Was speeding around a bend (dumb I know) then out of no where the dog shows up in my lane. Did a bit of tire screeching and swerving to miss the dog. Damn glad I didn't hurt it. 

[DarklingAlice]

Huh...does iris color actually change retinal pigmentation? That would be surprising to me. Though if it does they are definitely right that the darker the retina the less light scatter in the eye. We once tried to laser injure an albino retina...holy hell did that not work well.

[SinXAzgard21]

I will say that with me having blue eyes, I can't go outside on sunny days with out pain.  But I can see really well in the dark.

[Rhapsody]

My son, T, had blue eyes like his siblings for the first few years. Recently, I've noticed his eyes have changed colour, and he is most definitely a green-eyed child now. My eyes are blue, and Requiem's are hazel. Somehow, J and A are blue and T is green.

[Thesunmaid]

Well I have brown eyes and I have both nearsighted and astigmatism. With out them I have pretty terrible eye sight.

When I was born I had to laugh because I was born with brown eyes instead of blue like most caucasion babies so they thought my mother had an affair with a native man and because I was born in december my father who is part native did not have much of a tan at the time. They kept trying to get my dad out of the room so my mom could tell them the name of that father.*snickers*

But my night vision is actually pretty good. I can walk through a very dim room and find my way through no problem.

[Oniya]

I don't have night vision.  I have sonar.

(I just need to aim it at the floor more often.  *rubs shin*)

[Moraline]

I have teal eyes. Mostly blueish but some say they are greenish. They are extremely solid in color comparatively to other peoples eyes that I've seen.

My Vision:
I can't see distance worth shit! Like anything beyond about 5 feet in front of my face is a frickin' blur!
I see very well close up.
I have almost superhuman nightvision! (That might be because I live in the dark almost all the time.)
Bright Sunlight doesn't bother me at all. (I can stare up at the Sun and barely flinch (I know it's bad for me but meh, whatever.) I only ever wear sunglasses because I want the style or I need to wear my prescription on my face.)

Also... as an aside, I am easily mesmerized by Oniya's spinning bouncing ball of hypnotic suggestion.

[Chris Brady]

My eyes are brown, and I have better than average vision, I can make the same amount of detail at about 6m (20ft) that most people can 5m (15ft), or so I've been told by every optometrist I've ever gone to.

[Brittany]

I have blue eyes, my sister has brown, my brother green.  Mother and father both have brown eyes.

Perhaps me and my brother were adopted  ???

[Oniya]

The allele for brown is dominant.  I suspect you have one or two grandparents (but not three) with lighter colored eyes.

[MysticSparxman]

I always thought all eyes could see the same. Sure, people have different coloured eyes, but I didn't really think that eye colour could affect vision.

[DarklingAlice]

It's most notable when comparing albinos/leuks to non-albinos/leuks. And I'm still not convinced that iris color has much of an effect. Basically the amount of pigment in your RPE cells determines how much light reflects within the eye (less reflection is generally better). Basically you want enough light on your photoreceptors that it triggers them and the excess gets absorbed. If the excess bounces then you have blurred/false vision, glare, etc. It's why albino humans usually need to wear sunglasses to tolerate daylight otherwise they receive lots of glare because incoming light is not absorbed by the retina.

[Thunder in my blood]

My doc says I got 40/60 vision, and I have brown eyes.

I always thought all eyes could see the same. Sure, people have different coloured eyes, but I didn't really think that eye colour could affect vision.

But I agree with this. ^^^

[Oniya]

That's an odd way of designating it - my optometrist either uses diopters or 20/___

(Or in my case, he hands me a white cane and says 'Don't talk to the coat racks.  It makes them nervous!'  j/k)

[Camie Calamity]

I have brown eyes and my husband has blue.  I need contacts/glasses, husband does not.  I hate night driving because of the glare so that tasks go to the hubby.    So for me blue eyes see better than brown.