What is Heterochromia?

Heterochromia is when someone has two different colored eyes, like one eye is blue and the other is brown.

Imagine you have a toy box with two kinds of blocks: red ones and blue ones. Now, if you took out one red block and one blue block to build a tower, that’s kind of what happens in heterochromia. One eye uses “red” color, maybe brown or green, and the other uses “blue” color, like blue or gray.

Sometimes, it's because of how the eyes grow up. Think about having two different kinds of cookies in a jar: one is chocolate chip, and the other is sugar cookie. If you take one from each side, they look different, just like two different colored eyes.

Other times, it’s because of something that happens when the eye develops. It's like if you painted one side of your face with watercolor and left the other side plain, the colors would stand out differently.

You might even know someone who has heterochromia! Maybe they have one blue eye and one green eye, or even one brown eye and one hazel eye. It’s a fun little feature that makes them special, just like having a unique toy in your collection. Heterochromia is when someone has two different colored eyes, like one eye is blue and the other is brown.

Imagine you have a toy box with two kinds of blocks: red ones and blue ones. Now, if you took out one red block and one blue block to build a tower, that’s kind of what happens in heterochromia. One eye uses “red” color, maybe brown or green, and the other uses “blue” color, like blue or gray.