Specialist
Ophthalmologist

Providing professional and compassionate care

How does your eye work?

The eye works like a camera. Light passes through the cornea, the clear window at the front of the eye. The iris is the coloured ring (brown, blue, green etc). The pupil is the black hole in the centre.

Light passes through the pupil and is then focused by the lens which sits behind the iris onto the retina which is the membrane at the back of the eye.

The retina acts like the film of the camera. It converts the light energy into an electrical signal which then passes to the optic nerve. From here the signal is transmitted by the optic nerve to the brain where it is processed further.

Read about some common conditions
Eye anathomy
Cornea
Pupil – Black hole in centre of eye
Iris – coloured part of the eye
Lens
Sclera
Choroid
Retina
Fovea – most sensitive area of the retina
Central retinal artery and vein
Optic nerve