There are many myths and truths about our eyes – the windows to one’s soul. Do they change color? Can their shape alter?

Many believe the eyes are the only parts of our body that stay the same throughout life. But that is an entirely wrong assumption.

Like other organs and parts of the human body, eyes also change, transform, and grow in terms of color, shape, and size.

1. Do Your Eyes Grow With Time? 5 Eye-opening Interesting Facts

The eyes are one of the fascinating parts of our body. Its beauty has inspired poems, its colors are subjects of songs, and its beauty has been central to works of art.

And even in science and medicine, the eyes are no less intriguing.

So read on to find out the most interesting facts about this part of our body that gives sight and vision.

1.1) The Beginning: Changes in Eyes Starting from Infancy

At birth, a newborn’s eye is generally approximately 16.5 millimeters, and they only possess the ability to sense blurry optical stimuli.

During this time, the eye color of many infants changes as well, particularly those with blue or gray eyes.

When in their first month, infants start to see colors. After two or three more months, they acquire visual perceptivity, and their sight sharpens.

These two events – one of developing vision and then increased sight accuracy- evolved more and more in the following months.

When a baby is six months old, an eye test must be done to see if the progress is satisfactory and average. When babies enter their first year, they adjust their sight with their motions.

Throughout this cycle, eyes must adapt to the considerable development and quantity of movement. This results in the growth of their eyeballs – to accommodate sight to their surroundings and perform basic activities.

1.2) The Next Growth Spurt: Adolescence and Puberty

The next stage of eye growth comes during the time of puberty. It is when many other significant changes happen in the human body.

While undergoing puberty, the eyes mature to their full extent of around twenty-four millimeters. After they have attained this approximate size, they generally do not get any larger.

Visual perceptiveness can also alter during this period, but that commonly stabilizes after one reaches adulthood’s first stages.

1.3) Onto Adulthood: Do Eyes Ever Stop Growing?

Eyes do not keep on growing after reaching adulthood. In the case of most individuals, the eyes attain their maximum size by the early twenties. This is when your vision and sight prescription generally also become stable.

1.4) Why and How Do Your Eyes Grow and Change?

To get accustomed to our surroundings and to adjust to body moments, our eyes grow and change till they reach a stable and full size in adulthood.

But while your eyes stop growing after you reach your twenties, there are many other ways your eyes continue to change throughout your life.

1.5) More Ways Our Eyes Change With Time

Besides size and shape, eyes also change color, sight, and more. The eyes undergo many transformations and changes from infancy to adolescence and adulthood to old age.

i) Changes in Eye Colors

Generally speaking, eye colors commonly change two times – once after birth and later during old age.

When babies are born, they usually have light-colored eyes – blue and grey being the most common colors. After exposure to sunlight, melanin production boosts, and the blue or light-colored eyes often change to darker shades like brown.

Again, when a person reaches old age, pigment degradation can occur. This, in turn, can result in eye colors getting lighter.

ii) Functional Changes in Eyes

Functional alterations in the eyes are the most common change that can occur throughout your life. Unlike the transformation that occurs for eye growth that stops after reaching adulthood, this one can happen at any stage of life.

Among the most common functional changes in the eyes are presbyopia or farsightedness, retina detachment, cataracts, macular degeneration, and other eye conditions.

With time your eyesight keeps getting poor regarding color changes, depth perception, floaters, and other vision problems. You can take many measures to keep your eyes healthy and vision intact – regular eye checkups, updating contact lenses or glasses with time, having a nutritious diet, exercising, and wearing blue light filter glasses when working on mobile or computer screens.

And consult your eye doctor in case of any vision problems or eye abnormality.

2. FAQs

Still have questions on how your eyes change with time and age?

2.1) Do your eyes grow with time and age?

The short answer to is yes. Due to adjusting to one’s surroundings and learning to perform all basic and regular movements, the size and vision of the eyes begin to grow with time until a person reaches adulthood.

In the first month after birth, the eyes grow to adapt to the visual surroundings. With time, the size continues to grow until a baby reaches the age of two.

Next, another growth spurt occurs during adolescence when a child first hits puberty. This is when the human body goes through most of its changes, and the growth of the eyes is also among that.

After that, the size of your eyes, more or less, remains the same for the rest of your life.

2.2) Can your eyes change color?

Eyes can and sometimes do change in color. The change in eye color is significant in two primary stages after a baby is born and much later when they age.

When newborns are first introduced to the world, they are not exposed to the sun’s rays. Only after the eyes get sunlight exposure an increase in the generation of melanin can be seen.

When the quality of melanin is increased, pigmentation can change the color of light eyes to a much darker tone.

So if a baby is born with blue eyes more sensitive to light, it can change later. After melanin boosts it can alter to a much darker shade like brown – the most common of eye colors.

Another instance when your eye color may change is during old age. In this stage of life, pigment degradation is a likely phenomenon that can change your dark eyes to a much lighter hue, like blue or grey.

2.3) Why and how do your eyes grow?

You already know that our eyes grow, change color, and alter functionality with time, age, and some specific medical conditions.

The simple answer to that is adaptability and adjustment. When an infant is born, they possess a very blurry visual perception. In their first month, the optical accuracy sharpens due to the growth of the eyes. The size of eyeballs further increases after puberty and generally stops once an individual reaches adulthood. In the early twenties, the eyes fully develop in size and functionality. With age, the functional properties fluctuate, but the size remains the same.

3. Closing Thoughts: More to This Than Meets The Eye

As you can see, the human body is full of fascinating phenomena, and our eyes are a significant part.

Believed to be the windows of our souls, the eyes provide us with both sight and beauty. They express our emotions and reflect our feelings more than words or gestures. The world is full of poems, lyrics, art, and literature praising and admiring the enchantment of eyes.

Apart from being a matter of love and inspiration among poets and artists, scientists and medical professionals are equally intrigued by this part of our body.

Various studies and research have been conducted about eyes’ shape, size, colors, and functional characteristics.

Last Updated on December 26, 2023 by soubhik92@gmail.com