Human Eye ANatomy | How Dose Human Eye Work

Human Eye

Our eyes are located in small portions of skull known as the orbits or eye sockets. Eyelids wipe eyes and prevent dehydration . They spread tears on eyes which contains substances for fighting bacterial infections. Eyelashes prevent fine particles from entering eye. The structure of eye can be divided into three main layers.

The outer layer of eyeball consists of sclera and cornea. Sclera gives eye most of its white colour. It consists of dense connective tissue and protects the inner components of eye and maintains its shape. In the front sclera forms the transparent cornea. Cornea admits light to the interior of eye and bends light rays so that they can be brought to a focus.

The middle layer is called choroid. It contains blood vessels and gives the inner eye a dark colour. The dark colour prevents disruptive reflections within eye. Behind cornea choroid bends to form a muscular ring called iris. There is round hole called size of pupil in the centre of iris. After striking the cornea light passes through the pupil. The size of pupil is adjusted by the muscles of iris. Pupil constricts in bright light when the circular muscles of iris contract. Similarly pupil dilates in dim light when the radial muscles of iris contract.

Behind iris there is a convex lens which focuses light on retina. Lens is attached to ciliary muscles of eye via a ring of suspensory ligament. To clearly see an object far away ciliary muscles are relaxed and lens becomes less convex. When ciliary muscles contract lens becomes more convex and round.

The inner layer is sensory and is called as retina. It contains the photosensitive cells called rods and cones and associated neurons. Rods are sensitive to bright light and so distinguish different colours. Retina has two points fovea and optic disc. Fovea is a dip in retina directly opposite to lens and is densely packed with cone cells. It is largely responsible for colour  vision and sharpness. Optic disc is a point on retina where the optic nerve enters retina. There are no rods and cones at this point that is why it is also referred to as the blind spot.

The iris divides the cavity of eye into two chambers. The anterior chamber is in front of iris between cornea and iris. whereas the posterior chamber is between iris and retina. The anterior chamber contains clear fluid known as aqueous humour while the posterior chamber contain a jelly like fluid known as vitreous humour. It helps maintain the shape of eye and suspends the delicate lens.

Light form object enters eye and is refracted when it passes through cornea aqueous humour lens and vitreous humour. Lens also focuses light on retina. As a result the image falls on retina. Rods and cones generate nerve impulses in the optic nerve. These impulses are carried to the brain which makes the sensation of vision.

Rods contain a pigment called rhodopsin. When light falls on rhodopsin it breaks for generating a nerve impulse. In the absence of light the breakdown products are again converted into rhodopsin. Body synthesizes rhodopsin from vitamin A and that is why the deficiency of vitamin A causes poor night vision. This problem is called night blindness.

Cones also contain a pigment known as iodopsin. There are three main types of cones and each type has a specific iodopsin. Each type of cones recognizes one of the three primary colour blue green and red. If any type of cones is not working well it becomes difficult to recognize that colour. Such person is also not able to distinguish different colours. This disease is called colour blindness and it is a genetic problem.