Scientist Greg Homer has invented a process known as the Stroma procedure to make it possible to change eye color through laser surgery. The technology only works in changing brown eyes to blue. A laser is used to remove the thin layer of brown pigment tissue, known as melanin, over the iris of the eye to reveal the blue pigment that all humans naturally have. The laser procedure is estimated to take about 20 seconds, but the removal of the melanin happens gradually over two to four weeks. The surgery was still in the testing process and had not received approval for widespread use as of late 2013.
More about eye color:
- Men with brown eyes are viewed as being more trustworthy than men with blue eyes, research suggests.
- Eye color can be cosmetically changed with iris implants, in which colored circles of silicone are inserted into the eye to cover the natural-colored iris.
- An estimated 10% to 15% of all people experience a change in eye color as they age. This is most likely to occur in Caucasians.