Have You Ever Wondered…How Do the Eyes Work?

To understand this question, it’s important to think of the parts of the eyes as members of a “Vision Team” performing separate tasks while working together to create the images that we see every day.

The parts of your “Vision Team”:

• Cornea – The clear cover at the front that lets light in.
• Iris – Colored ring that opens and closes to adjust amount of light entering the eye.
• Pupil – Aperture in the iris, through which light enters the eye.
• Lens – Transparent structure that focuses light rays on the retina.
• Ciliary muscles – Muscles inside the eye that change the lens’s shape to focus images on the retina.
• Retina – Lining at the back of the eyeball that receives the images focused by the lens.
• Optic nerve – Nerve at the back of the eye that transmits images from the retina to the brain.

A Study in Teamwork

The ability of the eyes to see well is the result of amazing coordination. In healthy eyes, muscles work in tandem to keep the eyes straight and balanced as well as to make them turn together in any direction. The pupil and the ciliary muscles attached to the lens control the entry and focusing of light rays. The retina registers the focused image, which passes via the optic nerve to the brain. The brain fuses, or blends, the images sent by each eye into a three-dimensional image.

All these members of the vision team work automatically, without our conscious effort. All of them are needed if we are to see as well as nature intended