Anatomy of the Eye

CHOROID - Vascular layer of the eye lying between the retina and the sclera, it provides nourishment to outer layers of the retina.

CORNEA - The transparent tissue that covers the iris and pupil at the front of the eye. It helps focus incoming light.

FOVEA - Central pit in the macula that produces sharpest vision.

LENS - The clear biconvex (curved on both sides) lens of the eye helps focus light through the vitreous to the retina.

MACULA - The small central layer of tissue in the retina, responsible for central vision.

OPTIC NERVE - Largest sensory nerve of the eye, it carries visual information from the retina to the brain.

IRIS - Pigmented tissue lying behind the cornea that gives color to the eye (e.g., blue or brown eyes) and contracts or expands to let more or less light into the eye through the pupil.

PUPIL - The variable-sized black circular opening in the center of the iris regulating the amount of light that enters the eye.

RETINA - The lining of the rear two-thirds of the eye, it converts images from the eye's optical system into electrical impulses sent along the Optic Nerve to the brain.

RETINAL PIGMENT EPITHELIUM - pigment cell layer just outside the retina that nourishes retinal visual cells; it is firmly attached to underlying choroid and overlying retinal visual cells and composed of one layer of cells that are densely packed with pigment granules.

SCLERA - Opaque, fibrous, protective outer layer of the eye ("white of the eye") that is directly continuous with the cornea in front and with the sheath covering optic nerve behind.

VITREOUS - Transparent, colorless gel that fills the rear two-thirds of the interior of the eyeball, between the lens and the retina.