If Our Eyes See Color, Then Why Is There Color on Our Eyes?

Kadence R. (age 9) asked,

“If our eyes see color then why is there color on our eyes?”

Good question, Kadence!

The color of our eyes is influenced by layers of a pigment called melanin. More melanin in your eyes makes them darker, and less melanin reveals a lighter color, such as green or blue. Melanin simply determines how light or dark our eyes look to the outside world—it doesn’t affect what we see out of our eyes.

The melanin doesn’t affect what colors we see because it’s on the iris (the colored part of the eye), which we don’t see through. The visual information actually travels through the pupil, the black dot in the middle of the eye. The pupil is what we technically see through.

The colors we see in the world around us are taken in through the pupil, then through a clear lens, and then to the retina (located in the back of the eye), which has two main types of cells: rods and cones. Rods help us see in low light, and cones are what take in the colors.

Our eyes are a beautifully complex creation with many working parts. No pair of eyes are the same—just like a fingerprint—but the science behind them is consistent.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. (Psalm 139:14)

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