Your Eyes Are Irresistable

As a medical doctor, I often use the “clues” from an exam to help determine a person's health or find harmful medical conditions.  The eyes can provide critical clues.  Even a non-medical person or child can quickly notice when there is something off with the eyes.  So why do some eyes look healthy while others don't?  Let's explore this more.  

First an anatomy breakdown.  Form equals function so let's begin there.  Eyes each have four muscles which along with sophisticated nerves help both eyes to move exactly together.  We can immediately tell when eyes are out of alignment just a few millimeters just by looking at them. The size of our pupil will change depending on our emotional state and the amount of light (yes pupils are bigger at a candlelight dinner for both of those reasons).  The “whites” of our eyes are called the sclera and are actually a little pink due to tiny blood vessels running through the white collagen.  

The whites of our eyes communicate a lot about our eye health.  When a celebrity or sports star like Michael Jordan turns up with yellowing eyes it sparks wild speculation about their health.  Why is that?   In general, whiter eyes are associated with youth and good health.  Children naturally have whiter teeth than most adults do.  Skin, teeth and eyes naturally accumulate changes with age that can be undesirable.  Red eyes are often a result of out of control inflammation, orange eyes can be a sign of severe liver damage and the list goes on.  

Really white eyes radiate good health and a vibrant mind.  The whites of our eyes are the backdrop of our most important communication tool. From romance to rage, our eyes tell it all, even our health.  Is it harder to feel comfortable and carry on a friendly conversation with someone who has extremely bloodshot eyes? 

If a flawlessly attractive person was perfect in every way yet had yellow eyes would our first impression brush over that like it would a few moles?  We don't realize it but our first impressions are often really influenced by the health of the eyes or lack thereof. 

We are unique because no other animals have whites of the eyes that are normally visible. Poke Challenge: Celebrities With Animal Eyes  Why is that?  Social scientists think this helps rapid communication.  We can easily tell what others are looking at and get clues from their emotional state easier by having a white backdrop to the eye.  

Since we use our eyes to communicate a lot with others we are sending subtle messages about our health with each interaction.  Our brains have automatic assumptions that are made whenever we look into someone's eyes.  White eyes will signal health, youth and physical robustness along with the smile or whatever else we are communicating.  We spend a lot of effort on keeping our teeth and skin looking well but don't forget first impressions start with the eyes.

A popular solution to this is the use of Lumify eye drops. These drops work by constricting the blood vessels in the eye, reducing redness and effectively increasing the whiteness of the eyes.