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How Do Eyes Work?

28 September 2012
How Do Eyes Work?

A quick run-down of how our eyes work

It can be easy to take our vision for granted as we don’t know anything different. But every second that we have our eyes open, they are doing hundreds of incredible things just so that we can see.

Here’s a quick run-down of how our eyes work.

Our eyes are like a camera

The easiest way to understand how our eyes work is by thinking of a camera. When you take a photo, the light rays from the objects you are photographing pass through the camera lens and are recorded either on a computer chip or a film.

Your eyes work in a similar way. There are many parts to the eye that work together to receive and transform light before sending it to your brain to ‘translate’ it and give the end result of the image that you see.

Parts of the eye

When you look at something, light reflecting off of those objects enters your eye through the cornea (the transparent outer covering of the eye). The cornea then bends that light to go through the pupil. You may notice that in bright light your pupils are smaller and in dim light they are larger - this is because the pupil adjusts according to how much light it wants to let in.

After the pupil, the light then passes through the lens, which bends the rays again to send them towards the retina at the back of the eye. The retina is full of light-sensitive nerve cells that convert light into electrical pulses. These are then sent down the optic nerve into the brain.

It might sound complicated, but that’s why it is important to visit your optometrist regularly for an eye exam - they are experts in understanding all parts of the eye.

 Call your Toowoomba optometrist to arrange an eye exam today.

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