Is Love at First Sight Real? What Your Eyes Can Tell You About Love
The idea of love at first sight is wonderfully romantic. Two strangers see each other across a crowded room. There’s an instant, magnetic attraction, and suddenly they’ve found their match for all of eternity. In a world in which dating often requires a lot of work — work that comes with disappointment, rejection, and uncertainty — falling in love at first sight has strong appeal. But can it actually happen? Can your eyes tell you anything about love? The connection between the eyes and love has been described in poet- ry and prose since time immemorial — it’s the stuff of heroic epics and fanciful fairy tales. And evidence has increasingly shown that the human brain is hard-wired to both display and notice visual cues when gazing at a potential love interest. Enlarged pupils are one such cue. When you survey a person or object you are interested in, your brain releases a surge of dopamine — a chemical that controls the brain’s reward and pleasure centers — which causes your pupils to dilate. In this sense, beauty really is “in the eye of the beholder.”
In the last decade, researchers have determined that from a romantic and reproductive standpoint, both men and women are attracted to partners with bigger pupils. Studies demonstrate that when women are at their peak fertility, they might subconsciously be more attracted to a person with sizable pupils because it could indicate a partner’s attrac- tion to them. Likewise, researchers have reported that men seek out women with dilated pupils due to the association of larger pupils with youth and longevity. The connection between the eyes and enthrallment has inspired some of Shakespeare’s most iconic sonnets, and the science behind our eyes validates some of the Bard’s romantic claims. But does this connection between larger pupils and attraction corroborate the idea of love at first sight? If you believe that attraction equates to true love, then absolutely. But if your definition of love requires a little more depth, then you may have to toss aside the idea of love at first sight and instead view your partner’s eyes as mere “windows” to their soul.
Meet Dr. Amanda Frye! Our Dedicated Optometrist and Mom-to-Be
Dr. Frye has been practicing optometry and eye care since 2012. She and her husband, Brett, met in optometry school and worked for Brett’s parents at their optometry clinic in North Carolina before moving back to
Eye care is something that also runs in Dr. Frye’s family, as her younger sister followed her lead and became an optometrist. This wouldn’t be the last time Dr.
Frye and her sister would be in sync; they are both expecting their first child! Their parents will go from being parents to grandparents of three babies in 2019, as their sister-in-law is also pregnant. Dr. Frye and her husband are
Pennsylvania to be near Dr. Frye’s family. Much like Dr. Higgins and Dr. Gonzalez, Dr. Frye enjoys sharing a profession with her spouse. “It’s nice,” Dr. Frye says. “We love working together, so hopefully we can work together again. We share the same highs and the same lows. It’s easy. You don’t have to try to explain it to them because they already know.” Dr. Frye joined Stirling in November of 2017, and she is passionate about helping kids. She is also inspired by patients she fits for specialty scleral contact lenses. These contact lenses help patients who are not aided by normal prescriptions, and often, patients’ reactions are pure and fulfilling for Dr. Frye.
excited about welcoming their new baby, and we can’t wait for a new addition to our Stirling family.
When she isn’t helping people see or preparing for life as a new mom, Dr. Frye is enjoying time with her husband and their two dogs, a west highland terrier named Lily and a Great Dane named Thor. Together, she and Brett enjoy CrossFit workouts, movies, and gaming.
We have loved the added care Dr. Frye has brought to
our practice. Thanks for your dedication, Dr. Frye!
“They’re completely amazed,” she says. “They’re like, ‘Oh my, gosh, I haven’t seen this way in forever.’”
4 • (724) 285-2618
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