Can heterochromia be passed down?

Although it’s rare, sectoral heterochromia can sometimes be inherited. When parents pass down different colored eyes to their children, it’s often due to something called Waardenburg syndrome.

How is the family of a person with heterochromia affected?

Heterochromia rarely runs in families. Instead, it is often caused by slight damage to the eyes. If this happens during pregnancy or just after birth, someone can be born with mismatched eyes!

Is heterochromia more common in males or females?

5/6 of all heterochromias were found between the age from 2-19 years. Finally, a marked sexual dimorphism was observed, as in females heterochromia is much more frequent than in males.

How likely is heterochromia hereditary?

We can’t say how likely that gene is to go on and make anything out of the ordinary happen with the child’s eye color. There are other genetic ways to end up with heterochromia. Most of these aren’t passed down to your kids and are the result of some sort of change to your DNA during development.

Can I Pass sectoral heterochromia to my child?

But again, just like mosaics, you would not pass your sectoral heterochromia to your child. Your child would get either a brown or a green eye color gene, not a combination of the two. There are so many ways that a person can end up with different colored eyes that figuring out the cause can be pretty tough!

Should I talk to my doctor about heterochromia?

Talk with your eye doctor or regular doctor if this happens to make sure a disease isn’t causing it. Some things that can cause heterochromia include: Eye trauma — from being hit in the eye, for instance — is one reason your eye might change color.

What is the difference between complete heterochromia and segmental heterochrome?

Sometimes, the amount of pigment in your eyes can vary: Complete heterochromia means one iris is a different color than the other. For example, you may have one blue eye and one brown eye. Segmental heterochromia means different parts of one iris are different colors.