Have you ever thought about what happens with the light when it reaches the human eye and what processes have to take place within the eye in order for you to be able to see? Have you ever wondered why we can see clearly in the distance as well as in the near-field? Why perhaps some people have to wear glasses? Why most old people cannot read without spectacles?
Over the next few blogs we shall follow the path of light through the eye and beyond. We shall discuss what is happening in healthy eyes and how certain diseases affect the normal course of events and can lead to impaired vision. We shall follow the light on the way from the Sun, through the tear film and cornea, the lens, the vitreous and finally the retina. However, our journey will not stop there as we will continue through the brain and explain with practical cases that vision is much more than being able to perceive light and that seeing is one totally different thing than looking.
Let us first summarize the anatomy of the eye. In short, we can divide the different parts of the eye into:
- Optical part (the cornea, the iris and pupil, the lens), whose job is to focus the light correctly onto the retina;
- Receptive part (the retina and the optical nerve), whose job is to translate the light impulses into electricity and carry them to the brain;
- The brain (obviously not part of the eye, but so important for vision that we can count it here), whose job is to do everything else, literally everything!
Want to start our 8-part blog series on how the eye functions? Part I is already waiting for you here!
Interested? We bet you are! Stay tuned and subscribe to our newsletter in our footer so that you do not miss our latest blog!
