Look deeper into the anatomy of your eyes

The eye is one of the sense organs most frequently used among the five other senses. Sense of sight is the main means of gathering information from around us. Keep in mind, about 75% of the information we receive is in the form of visual information. But have you ever imagined how a pair of eyes can see various objects? To be able to answer it, let's explore deeper into the anatomy of the eye and how it works.

Eye Parts

Eyes are round with little bumps on the front. Parts that can be seen from the outside are only half of it, namely the cornea, iris, pupil, sclera, and conjunctiva. The eyes are protected by eyelids and eyelashes. When blinking, the eyelids also help lubricate the surface of the eyes with tears. The following are the front of the eyes:

• Cornea

The cornea is a transparent protective dome located at the front of the eyeball. The cornea functions to focus the light before it is received by the lens of the eye. The cornea has no blood vessels and is very sensitive to pain.

• Iris

This is the part that determines the color of your eyes. Iris is responsible for regulating the light that enters your eyes by changing the size of the pupils of the eye.

• Pupils

In the middle of the iris, you will see a small black hole called a pupil. This part determines how much light enters the eye.

• Sklera

The whites of your eyes are called sclera. This section functions as a hard wall that protects other delicate eye tissue. The sclera is surrounded by six muscles. These muscles are in charge of moving the eyeball, both up, down, left, right, even spinning, without having to move your head.

• Conjunctiva

Transparent layer that covers the front of your eye, except the cornea.

After tracing the part that looks from the front, let's look at the middle of the eye. In this section there are vitreous lenses and cavities.

• Lens

This section is directly behind the iris and pupils, clear colorless and oval shaped. The lens functions to refract the incoming light and focus it on the retina.

• Vitreous cavity

This cavity extends from the back of the lens to the back wall of the eyeball, and is filled with clear, gel-like fluid called vitreous.

Our search ends at the back of the eye. In this section, there is the retina, macula, and optic nerve.

• Retina

This is a light-sensitive layer that lines the inside of the eye. The retina consists of millions of cells capable of capturing light passing through the cornea and lens. These special cells consist of stem cells and cells. Generally, the human eye has around 125 million stem cells needed to see dim light. Instead, cones are needed to see bright light and color. The number of cone cells in the eye is around 6-7 million. The way the retina works is almost like a film roll on the camera.

• Macula

This is the yellow part of the eye's retina. The macula is a special part of the retina. This part is very instrumental in your vision and allows you to see objects well.

• Optic nerve

This section functions to bring all the visual information collected by the retina to your brain.

How Can Eyes See Objects?

We can see an object because of the reflection of light on that object. The reflected light is received by the cornea. After that, light travels through the pupil and lens. When light reaches the lens, the lens will focus the light on cells in the retina. The retina has millions of cells that are sensitive to light. These cells help convert light into electrical signals which are then sent to the brain (part of the visual cortex) through the optic nerve to be interpreted. Arriving in the visual cortex, this electrical signal is processed until the brain knows the shape of objects and their colors. Then, other parts of the brain will help process the information and then interpret it as an object as we see it.

Take care of your eye health

To maintain your eye health, there are a number of things you can do, such as eating healthy foods, protecting your eyes from direct sunlight, and regularly seeing your doctor regularly. Quitting smoking and using the right eye products can also avoid eye damage. Because eye function is so important, you need to maintain good eye health. If there are complaints related to eye disorders, immediately check your condition to the doctor.