Eye Color May Indicate Risk for Serious Skin Conditions

According to an article in Science Daily eye color may possibly indicate whether a person is high-risk for specific skin conditions. A study from the University of Colorado School of Medicine, shows people with blue eyes are less likely to have vitiligo and people with brown eyes are less likely to get melanoma.  Vitiligo is an autoimmune skin condition which is a result of pigment loss causing irregular white patches of skin and hair. Melanoma is a dangerous variation of skin cancer.

Scientists looked at almost 3,000 people with vitiligo of Non-Hispanic European ancestry and identified 13 new genes that predispose to vitiligo.  Out of all the vitiligo patients being studied 27 percent had blue eyes, 43 percent had brown eyes and 30 percent had green or hazel eyes.  This was surprisingly different from the normal distribution of eye color which is 52 percent blue eyes, 22 percent have green/hazel eyes, and 27 percent have brown eyes.  Thus showing that people with blue eyes are less likely to get vitiligo.  Vitiligo and melanoma can be compared as polar opposites.  So someone who is less likely to have melanoma may be more likely to have vitiligo and vise versa.  Vitiligo is the result of a person's immune system attacking normal pigment cells.  Thus, it is thought to be over activity of a normal process in which a persons immune system attempts to sort out and attack potential melanoma cells.   This information may be helpful to scientists who are looking at the genetics of other more common autoimmune disorders such as type 1 diabetes, lupus, thyroid problems, ect.