Eye Color May Indicate Risk for Serious Skin Conditions

         

Eye color may be an indicator of whether a person is high risk for certain skin diseases. At University of Colorado School of Medicine, a study has shown that people with blue eyes are likely to have vitiligo, an autoimuune skin disease causes pigment loss of irregular white patches of skin and the hair. People with brown eyes are less likey to have melanoma, which is a dangerous kind of skin cancer. In the Journal of Natural Genetics, researchers look at non-Hispanic European ancestry, 3,000 new genes predispose for vitiligo. 27 percent had blue/gray eyes, 43 percent had tan/brown eyes, and  30 percent had green/hazel eyes. Americans non-Hispanican European ancestry had 52 percent blue/gray eyes, 27 percen tan/brown eyes, and 22 percent green/haxel eyes. Richard Spritiz M.D. of Human Medical Genetics said vitiligo and melanoma are polar opposite.  Some of the same genetic variations make one more likely to have vitiligo, and less likely to have melanoma or vice versa. Vitiligo disease attacks the normal pigment cells, but by over activity by one's immune system searches out and destroys early cancerous melanoma cells. People with vitiligo are at a higher risk of having thyroid disease, type 1 diabetes, arthritis, and lupus. Dr. Spritz says there must be some genes that push towards autoimmune diseases, which other genes are enviromental triggers determine which autoimmune disease occurs and when.

I think that this is interesting how by a certain eye color a person is more likely to be prone to a certain disease. I am curious on how researchers can detect this but have not came up with a solution to help prevent this.