Meet Dubai-based Pakistani expat who has two-coloured eyes

Dubai: Ever listened to ‘The Eye Color Ballad’ by hip hop/rap artist from Iowa, Naethan Apollo? The ‘simple song for every eye’ that celebrates the beauty of brown eyes, then hazel, green, blue and grey? Well, a Pakistani expat in Dubai would have you wonder what the singer would say about people like her, with each eye a different hue?

“Yes, my right eye is brown and the left green,” says Shumaila Jacquiline William, adding that her dual eye colour turns heads wherever she goes.

“I have become so used to people staring at me, or even asking me if I am wearing different coloured lenses in each eye. But I just smile and tell them that my eyes are of two different colours and they have been like this since my birth,” says Shumaila.

“Besides being curious, they compliment me and say I have beautiful eyes – this makes me very happy,” she confesses.

A single woman who works at a private school, Shumaila has been living in Dubai for 12 years.

As she points out, her extraordinary eye condition is called Heterochromia.

“I have been identified with genetic complete Heterochormia, where each eye is entirely a different colour; in some other rare cases, the Heterochormia is partial or sectoral, where one eye contains two different colours within it,” Shumaila explains.

According to doctors, Heterochromia occurs as a result of variations in the distribution, concentration and type of melanin in the iris. Despite its mystical manifestation, it is largely congenital with no symptoms. In some cases, when it develops in later life, it is acquired and can be associated with other issues.

Shumaila says she cherishes her individuality and the attention that her unique eyes command. “I can only thank my parents for this,” she says.

Estimated to occur in one per cent of the world population, Heterochromia is indeed uncommon. But despite its rarity, some celebrities with two-coloured eyes have helped draw attention to the condition.

Among the celebs with dual-coloured eyes are Hollywood actress Kate Bosworth (hazel and green); Bond girl Jane Seymour (blue and green); Star Trek’s Alice Eve (blue and green); and Dominic Sherwood (half blue, half brown).

“Many people I meet tell me that I should also get into modelling or acting because of my unique eyes. I feel I am not cut out for that,” says Shumaila.

But does she sees things differently with each eye because of their different colour?

“Not really, except when I look at myself in the mirror,” she adds.