2. Vitiligo is less common among blue-eyed people.
A 2012 review of vitiligo research published in Nature found the autoimmune disease, which causes the loss of skin color in blotches, was less common in people with blue eyes. Of the nearly 3,000 vitiligo patients—who were all Caucasian—involved in the research, 27% had blue eyes, 30% had green or hazel eyes, and 43% had brown eyes, whereas the typical breakdown of eye color among Caucasians is 52% blue, 22% green or hazel, and 27% brown.
The researchers discovered that variations in two particular genes, TYR and OCA2, which play a role in blue eye color, also decrease risk for vitiligo, says study author Richard A. Spritz, MD, director of the genomics programs at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
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