About the Eye

Eye diagrams, with a breakdown of all the components that make up the eye.

• The cornea is a curved, highly transparent tissue that separates air from clear fluid in the anterior chamber of the eye, which lies between the cornea and lens.
• The lens is a firm gel-like transparent tissue that is almost eight millimeters (one-third inch) in diameter and biconvex in shape, that is, thicker in the center than at the edge. A thin transparent capsule surrounds the lens.
• The iris is in front of the lens and consists of a circular pigmented muscle that gives the eye its color. The iris acts like the diaphragm of a camera and adjusts the amount of light that enters the eye through the hole in its center called the pupil. Light then passes through the vitreous, a clear gel-like material that fills the center of the eye, onto the retina.
• The retina is the film of the eye. It is a true extension of the brain and is composed of special nerve cells sensitive to light.
• The optic nerve is formed from these nerve cells and carries the light image entering the eye to the brain.

Related Eye Links:

How the Eye Responds to Light;
Colourblindness Test;
Snellen chart.

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