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Keep an Eye on Your Health A
rguably one of the most valuable of our five senses, eye sight is not something to be taken lightly; quick quiz: can you name all the five senses? They are hearing, touch, smell, taste, and yes, sight. But, what do you really know about eye health? As always, this article is to educate and spark interest by scratching the surface of eye health and is no way an attempt to diagnose or treat eye pathology. Let’s start with some basic understanding of the eye: the pupil is the opening in the iris that allows light to enter the eye, our pupils change shape according to the amount of light available. iris is the color part of your eye and the pupil is a hole in the iris. cornea is a transparent outer layer of connective tissue covering the iris and pupil. sclera is tough skin that makes up the “white” part of your eye. retina is the inside area of the eye which contains rod cells (which allows us to see black and white) and cone cells (which allows us to see color); these cells then send signals by the way of the optic nerve to your brain for interpretation as sight.
22 High Desert Living magazine
is cranial nerve number two, which is responsible for carrying messages from the eye to the brain. blind spot or optic disc is the spot where the optic nerve attaches to the retina and therefore contains no rods or cones for sight lens behind the iris and pupil, which helps focus light on the retina. macula is where the majority of light hits the retina vitreous humor is a clear gel inside the eye behind the lens aqueous humor is a clear liquid between the lens and the cornea optic nerve
Light passes through the cornea, then the pupil, the lens then focuses the image upside down on the retina, and finally the optic nerve sends the message to your brain to interpret. Most common eye pathology Age related macular degeneration (ARMD)- is a leading cause of blindness in the over 50 year old population. Approximately 60 million have ARMD with approximately 20,000 new cases of ARMD causing blindness per year. ARMD is not fully understood but UV light (free radicals) causing oxidative damage to the retina seems to be a big factor.
winter | SPRING 2012