Notes on EYE Lecture

April 17, 2008, the students (and i) of Mr. Olson's class had a guest lecturer. Her name was Dr. Pamela Fong and she is an optometrist. Optometrists examine people's eyes to make sure that they're eyes are healthy and also to find out if they can see well or not. Dr. Fong has taught us that people who are near sighted, which we call myopia, have corneas that are too strong. Also, people that are far sighted, hyperia, have weak corneas. Another eye sickness is Astigmatism, where the corneas are aspheric.

The structures of the eye and what they do are as follows: The tough, clear, covering over the front of the eye is the cornea. The colored portion of the eye - opens and closes to monitor amount of light that enters the eye is the iris. The clear disk which focuses light rays into a sharp image is the eye's lens. The nerve that carries information from the eye to the brain is the optic nerve. The opening into the center of the iris is the pupil. The lining of the eye which contain millions of light-sensitive cells called rods and cones is the retina. The clear, colorless transparent jelly that fills the eyeball behind the lens is the vitreous humor. The fluid that fills the space between the lens and the cornea is the aqueous fluid. The dense fibrous opaque white outer layer of the eyeball, except for the cornea, is the sclera. The place in the black of the eye on the retina with only a few light-sensitive cells is the blind spot.

I have learned that everybody has unique sets of iris's and retinas. everbody's iris has different patterns. No one's iris has the same pattern. Our eyes are like cameras, we have our own lenses and "camera system." Also, everyone sees things differently, and interprets vision differently as well. Dr. Fong also taught us that the macula has the highest concentration in the eye(seen in the back of the eye). I also learned that our blind spot is the optic nerve. Our Vitreous Humors are different colors, depending on what color hair you have. EX: blond people have lighter Vitreous Humors than brunettes.

In the Eye Dissection lab, i have learned that the black fluid that leaked out of the eye when we cut it is pigments. I also learned that, when a eye lens is hard that means that the person is old. The scleria in the eye i dissected was thick. Inside the eye, the colors blue, green, and yellow were lining the retina. This lab was very interesting and I thank Dr. Pamela Fong for teaching us about our eyes.