Is it possible to induce heterochromia

This goes to show that things are not always what they seem. Most people who inherited heterochromia are actually pretty lucky, and are among a small group of the Heterochromia population—which is something I know I never would have guessed.

Fun fact: Inherited Heterochromia is more common in dogs, cats, horses, cows, and water buffalo than it is in humans. Sites at Penn State. But two different eye colors tends to be an isolated finding, which adds to the seemingly endless and fascinating variation in humans' physical characteristics. Already a subscriber?

Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Go Paperless with Digital. This can result in either heterochromia or two very pale, blue eyes. Waardenburg syndrome can be inherited. If one parent has it, there is a high chance the child will have it as well.

Most affected people have varying degrees of hearing loss as well. And finally, there is one other rare way a baby can be born with heterochromia. Two different color eyes can sometimes happen in chimeras.

Chimeras are people made up of two sets of cells, with two different sets of DNA. This can happen if the person is made up of DNA from two fused siblings. A chimera might have different eye color genes in each eye! Read more about chimeras here. Aside from the genetic syndromes mentioned above, heterochromia is usually caused by random chance. But this is not true for all animals. Huskies, Australian Shepherds and Border Collies often inherit heterochromia from their parents.

For dogs, having mismatched eyes is genetic! An Australian Shepherd mix with heterochromia. Unlike in humans, many dogs have genetic heterochromia. Photo credit: Kristen Wells. Changes in eye color can also occur after birth. This usually is a result of injury or disease. People with glaucoma sometimes end up with mismatched eyes. This disease is often treated by eye drops that can stimulate the production of melanin in the iris. Tumors of the iris , whether malignant or benign.

Some medications and eye drops taken for glaucoma and other eye conditions can also play a part in causing heterochromia. Some of these include:.

Latisse , once used to treat glaucoma, though it is now used cosmetically to thicken eyelashes.