How does the eye work?

Many of my young patients ask me “How does the eye work”? The answer is actually pretty fascinating and often helps patients relax before any procedure. The eye is analogous to a camera, which helps to capture the image or picture. Each structure of the eye plays a vital role in providing clear vision. The cornea behaves very much like a lens cover, which focuses rays of light through the pupil. The iris and pupil act as the aperture of a camera. Refractive or Lasik surgeons work on the surface of the cornea in order to reshape the curvature of the cornea and thus helping patients from wearing correction wears (what the everyone else calls glasses or contact lenses).

The natural lens of the eye helps to focus the light to the back of the eye onto the retina, which serves as a film of the camera. During the natural aging process, the natural lens becomes more yellow. This yellowing is called cataract. Patients with cataracts are just like wearing sunglasses all the time, which can impair their vision and cause glares. Therefore, cataracts can be removed by surgery and replaced with an intraocular implant.

The retina is the innermost layer of the eye wall, which is lined up with photoreceptor nerve cells. Any conditions or disease affecting the retina can cause blurred vision. This is analogous to the the film of the camera becoming scratched. The pictures that taken by this film can turn out distorted or blurred pictures.

The photoreceptor nerve cells converge into an optic nerve, which serves as a cable transmitting information captured by the eye to the visual processing center in the brain. Any disorders affecting the visual pathway in the brain or the visual processing center, also known as visual cortex, can cause visual impairment or even blindness. Visual cortex serves as a printer of the pictures. If the printer is not working, then the pictures cannot be printed and cannot be seen.

So there you have it. The human eye is actually an amazing marvel. Doctors have to take every care time we look at a pair of eyes and our goal is to preserve and provide the best possible visual potential for their patients.