Did you know the eyes contain the most active muscles in our body?
YOUR eyes are amazing, which is why Optometry Australia is urging everyone to look after their peepers.
After your brain, your eyes are one of the most complex organs in your body. Here are a few eye-opening facts you might not have known:
- The eye is composed of more than two million working parts, including over one million nerve fibres.
- We blink around 10-15 times a minute and around 6.3 million times each year.
- Our eyeballs remain the same size from birth to death.
- The eyes contain the most active muscles in the human body.
- An iris has 256 unique characters - 6.4 times the number of a fingerprint.
- The average eyeball is 24mm wide, weighs 28 grams and contains around 107 million light sensitive cells.
- Eyes detect light, but it is the brain which converts light into shapes, colours and images.
- Human retinas perceive the world upside down, but the brain flips images the right way up for us.
- The human eye can detect 500 shades of grey, red, blue and green. All other colours are composites of these.
- Eyelashes play an important role in keeping dirt out of our eyes, while eyebrows prevent sweat dripping into them.
- People with blue eyes share a common ancestor with every other blue-eyed person in the world.
Optometry Australia says the eyes do not show clear signs of many eye diseases such as glaucoma and macular degeneration until it is too late for the effects to be reversed, which can result in serious visual impairment or blindness. So regular eye tests are essential to ensure any problems are picked up early.
- To find an optometrist near you, visit goodvisionforlife.com.au