What are violet eyes?

Some people believe that violet eyes mean that you were born with purple eyes. It’s not common that people can be born with real purple eyes. Less than 1% of the world’s population have violet eyes in comparison with blue eyes at 8-10% and brown eyes at 70-80% (according to World Atlas.) The easiest way to get violet eyes is contact lenses, photo manipulation or lighting tricks. Also, I am not a doctor. I am a designer writing this to figure out what are violet eyes as an art and design reference.

Colour contact lenses were not commercially available until 1983. There are violet colour contact lenses available for general consumers. They are mostly used for costume or fashion lenses.

Melanin is a common complex polymer originating from the amino acid tyrosine that makes your eyes, hair and skin colour in humans and animals. Melanin provides pigmentation to your body and absorbs UV rays and protects cells from sun damage. The amount of melanin in your eyes determines the colour. And your genes determine the amount of melanin you would have. The more melanin you have in your eyes the more darker your eye colour will be. The amount of melanin in the eye affects how much light enters the eye to be reflected.

Violet eyes can range from pale silver to light purple. It is one of the rarest eye colours to find. It first starts with what’s in your eyes already and the lighting around you. They have less melanin in the iris with more light able to be reflected out. It makes the eye appear paler to an observer than if it had an abundance of melanin.

Violet eyes have been linked to albinism. This condition causes the complete lack of or very low levels of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes. The eyes sometimes appear violet or light purple due to the lack of melanin showing the blood vessels in the back of the retina for eyes that might have appeared blue. This is still very rare because according to the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation, most people with albinism have blue eyes with some people having hazel or brown eyes.

The myth of a person having Alexandria Genesis is a myth that has been circulating the internet since 2005 according to Snopes. The myth is about the perfect human being whose eyes change to purple six months after birth due to a rare genetic mutation. The myth is more of a description of a science fiction or fantasy character that just doesn’t exist in real life. Composites of this description are used often for elves or mythological humanoid characters for storytelling.

Elizabeth Taylor has beautiful eyes. She was known for having a double eyelash line that made her eyes look like she had thick eyelashes. Many people said that her eyes looked glamorous in the movies when she was younger and she never needed mascara. She also had something called violet eyes. Her eyes were a very deep vibrant blue with some brown spots in her eyes than actual purple eyes. But some people think her eyes were violet. Elizabeth Taylor only had certain lighting that made her eyes look purple like a colour gel light over her eyes, the type of film used that made her eyes violet or makeup that reflected and complemented her eye colour.

If you watch films like Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Doctor Faust or Cleopatra, Elizabeth Taylor and her co-stars look like they have some sort of violet eyes but it was just the lighting they used for the film. If a film has an actor move around from daylight to night, lighting effects heavy or weather-related issues can show some changes but are not guaranteed. It also depends on the restoration of these films taking out certain filters differing from the original cut.