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Can Eyes Change Color with Mood?


When you take the time to really look people in the eye as you talk to them, you start to notice how wildly different everyone’s eyes really are. The tiniest details are incredibly neat to discover in all our eyes. Even if you have the same color eyes as your parents, no one’s eyes are exactly the same. Can eyes change color with mood changes, though? Have you ever felt like yours have? It may not just be your imagination.

How Mood Can Make Eyes Appear to Change Color


The colored portion of your eye is called the iris. This muscle can get bigger or smaller depending on how big the pupil (black center portion of your eye) is. The pupil changes size with the amount of light that it is exposed to. When you are in a darker setting, your pupil expands to let more light in, and when you are in the bright sunshine or a well-lit room, your pupil will shrink in size. When this change in pupil size occurs, the iris pigments contract or expand, which can cause a different eye color appearance.

As we experience different emotions, the size of our pupils changes as well. Imagine all the various feelings that you experience each day. Whether you’re happy, sad, mad, excited, or scared, your body reacts in more ways than you may have first realized. 

As you are experiencing these different emotions, your body releases a hormone that causes this change in pupil size. Try looking in the mirror and checking out your eyes next time you are happy or mad. Your eye color will usually appear more vibrant than usual. When you are sad and cry, your eyes can take on redness, bringing about a brighter eye color. Pretty interesting, right? 

Next time you wonder, or someone asks, “can eyes change color with mood’, you know the truth!

Reasons Why Your Eyes Might Actually Change Color


While your eye color may appear to change with your varying moods throughout the day, there may be more going on if you notice that your eye color changes color completely.

Our eyes can be an insight not only into the emotions we feel, but they can also clue us in to our overall health as well as eye health. An eye color change to a yellowish or greenish hue can be an indicator that you are unwell or have an eye disease like Horner’s Syndrome, Fuch’s Heterochromic Uveitis, or Pigmentary Glaucoma. A change in eye color, whether it be one or both eyes, is not something you want to wait on to see if it gets better or changes back. Contact your eye doctor soon.

What to Do If Your Eyes Change Color?


If you have noticed a genuine change in eye color, the best thing to do would be to see your eye specialist for an exam. We would love to address any concerns you may have. So call us to schedule an eye exam today to learn more about healthy vision habits so that you can enjoy great vision for years to come. 

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