Maybe, like me, those of you with blue eyes have experienced great sensitivity to light. I find that most times when I step outside into the light, I sneeze. Also, when I am outside in sunlight, my eyes will water terribly. Sometimes, I am worried people will think I cried the whole way to class. When I was little, my mom told me it was because blue eyes are more sensitive to sunlight...I decided to find out if it was true.





I am not the only one who claims that their blue eyes are sensitive to light. Just the other day, a girl I know was complaining about how the light hurt her eyes, and there have been numerous baseball players that say their blue eyes affect their batting.





In "Baseball's Curse of the Baby Blues", it describes that in an ideal world, all of the best baseball players have brown eyes. Josh Hamilton has recently came out and said that his blue eyes are the reason for the difference in his daytime to nighttime batting averages. Hamilton's optometrist agrees, saying "Because of the lack of pigment in lighter color eyes, like blue or green opposed to brown, you get a lot more unwanted light and that can create glare problems."





In another article on .org, the phenomenon of light sensitivity in blue eyes is called "photophobia." Photophobia occurs because people with light eyes have less pigmentation and light can affect their eyes more harshly. The article suggests that fixing the problem could be as easy as "avoiding prolonged time spent in harsh lighting or bright lights or wearing UV-blocking sunglasses and wide brimmed hats when outside..." DukeHealth .org, the phenomenon of light sensitivity in blue eyes is called "photophobia." Photophobia occurs because people with light eyes have less pigmentation and light can affect their eyes more harshly. The article suggests that fixing the problem could be as easy as "avoiding prolonged time spent in harsh lighting or bright lights or wearing UV-blocking sunglasses and wide brimmed hats when outside..."





As for sneezing when I step out into sunlight, it seems that this is not a "blue eye" problem, but rather, about 25% of people "sun-sneeze." Sun-sneezing is sometimes called "photic sneeze reflex" but it is not widely understood how or why it happens. This article suggests that sun-sneezing may be genetic...now I'm definitely going to have to ask my parents.





Do you have sensitive blue eyes? Are you a "sun-sneezer"?







