Brown Eyes Get Less Skin Cancer, Blue Eyes Get More

If you want to know your chances of certain skin problems, check your eye color. Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine have found that folks with blue eyes are less likely to develop vitiligo, an autoimmune disease that robs the skin of pigmentation. However, they may have an increased risk of skin cancer. People with brown eyes have less chance of skin cancer.

“Genetically, in some ways vitiligo and melanoma are polar opposites. Some of the same genetic variations that make one more likely to have vitiligo make one less likely to have melanoma, and vice-versa,” says researcher Richard Spritz, M.D. “Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease, in which a person’s immune system attacks their normal pigment cells. We think that vitiligo represents over-activity of a normal process by which one’s immune system searches out and destroys early cancerous melanoma cells.”

People with vitiligo are at higher risk for various  other autoimmune diseases, such as thyroid disease, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.