Anatomy of the Eye

The eye is one of the five sensory organs of the body. The 'window' is the cornea . All light enters the eye through this window. The cornea receives the light and bends it into the pupil. The pupil is the large black circle part of the eye. If the cornea is the window, the pupil is the window shade. Sophisticated tissue that adjusts the light by expanding and contracting, regulating the amount of light entering the eye. Pupils have their own built-in intelligence. In bright light, the pupil can constrict to the size smaller than a head of a pin. In darkness, the pupil will grow almost to the size of a dime. Next time you make your way across a dark room without running into a wall. It's because your pupils are doing their job.

From the pupil, light passes through the lens. The curvature of the lens determines the clarity in which we see images close up and far away. The refraction of the lens projects the image we see upside down onto the retina. It's the nature of the beast. Camera lenses refract in the same manner-flipping images upside down. Think of the lens and retina like a miniature movie theater. The lens is the movie camera projecting the image onto the retina's big screen. Like IMAX movie screens, the retina covers the back 2/3rds of the eye. It is responsible for, among other things, our wide field of view.

The optic nerve enters the back of the eye like an electric cord plugging into a wall. The optic nerve contains millions of cells, which convert light energy into electrical signals that are sent to the brain for further identification.

Fortunately for us, our eyes receive, distribute, and process information to the brain without our having to consciously think about it.

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple is creativity"
~Charles Mingus~

Epithellum: A layer of protective cells covering the cornea. Excessive wear of contact lenses, rubbing our eyes, or other such injuries "scratch" the cornea, the epithellum is hat incurs the damage. Fortunately, the epithellum regenerates itself every few days and heals quickly.

Cornea: The picture window of the eye, the cornea is a tough, clear outer layer over the iris. It holds down several jobs. One is security, protecting the iris from foreign objects that can get in the eye and do potential harm. Second is traffic control. The cornea focuses light that enters the eye onto the retina.

Anterior Chamber: The space between the cornea and the frot of the iris that is filled with aqueous fluid.

Aqueous Humor: Even the eye has a sense of humor. The aqueous humor refers to the clear fluid found in the anterior chamber that helps keep the cornea round

Posterior Chamber: The space between the back of the iris and the front face of vitreous also filled with aqueous fluid

Lacrimal Gland: The emotional gland. A small almond-shaped duct that produces tears

Sclera: The opaque white outer covering of the eyeball. The sclera is a thick and resilient protection not unlike the epithllium

Iris: The colored ring that surrounds the pupil. The color of the iris is the means by which the color of a person's eyes are determined. Nature provides a range of hues from pale blue to dark brown. Synthetic colors can be produced throught the use of colored contact lenses

Pupil: The black hole in the middle of the iris. The pupil "dilate" or expand to allow more light into the eye when conditions are dark, and contract when there is too much light

Lens: A clear, convex, and flexible matter that works with the cornea to focus light onto the retina. Responsible for 20% of the focusing done in the eye, the shape of the lens allows us to see objects near and far away. Clouding of the lens is called a cataract

Ciliary Body: Muscles that control the shape of the lens. The ciliary body is responsible for our ability or inability to see near or far