Anatomy of the Eye Explained

The eye weighs about 30 mL but performs a very important function. It operates like a camera with the light from an object traveling through the different parts of the eye and being transmitted to the brain.

Cornea

• Light enters the eye and is focused at the clear tissue at the front of the eye called the cornea; the cornea is where you place your contact lenses in your eye.

Anterior Chamber

• The anterior chamber is directly behind the cornea. In the condition called glaucoma, the anterior chamber angle does not function properly. The pupil is the opening in the middle of the iris where the light goes through.

Lens

• The lens is directly behind the iris and pupil and serves to further focus light as it travels through the eye; as people age, the lens gets less flexible (presbyopia) and then cloudy (cataract).

Vitreous Humor

• The vitreous humor is a gel-like substance located behind the lens; it helps maintain the shape of the eye. It needs to remain clear so that light can reach the retina.

Retina

• The retina consists of several layers of cells and functions like the film in a camera; these cells change the light into nerve signals which are sent to the optic nerve.

Optic Nerve

• The optic nerve consists of more than a million nerve fibers. It transmits the nerve signals from the retina to the brain where the brain will process the signals back into an image.