From Ancient Egypt’s jade-green Eye of Horus to Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” few anatomical features have captivated artists, scientists, and the general public as much as eye color. Like that of the skin, the color of the eye is determined by the presence or absence of pigments such as melanin. Eyes are brown or black when they have melanin in the stroma of the iris; blue or green when they do not. Traditionally, the only way for one to “change” the color of their irises has been with masking colored contacts. That may soon change.
A Californian company called Strōma Medical recently made headlines after announcing that it could use lasers to, in essence, vaporize iris pigment away and thus change eye color. They have been focusing on the brown-eye-to-blue-eye transition by ablating melanin in the stroma (hence the company name). We had the opportunity to interview the company founder, Gregg Homer, about the technology. If it works and receives approval, this author predicts that it may not be long until we see people with intentional heterochromia (different colored eyes) or iris tattoos.