The Gift of Sight

The Gift of Sight

The human eye is designed to allow one to focus on objects and perceive their surroundings in a way to allow them to survive. However, on occasion, a component of the eye malfunctions rendering one’s eyesight to be less than perfect. This is where human ingenuity comes into play with the invention of corrective lenses. But the real ingenuity is the relationship between light and the curvature of a lens. This lab report will discusses the structure of the eye, what can go wrong with your eyes, and how to correct it with lenses.

The structure of the eye is made up of many parts that act in tandem to create an image. The retina resides in the back of your eye and is composed of a layer of cells. These cells react to the light that is focused into the eye by the cornea and communicates with the brain. The result of the communication is either the dilation or constriction of the pupil to match needed amount of light on the retina. What lies between the retina and pupil is a lens. This lens allows the image from outside to be reduced to a size that fits onto the retina and also focuses the light onto the retina while curving the image to match the curve of the retina(Broten). However, something goes wrong resulting in over 75% of Americans having to use some form of corrective lenses("Corrective Lenses Statistics" ).

For a variety of reasons the eye malfunctions and the most common vision problem occurs when the eye cannot focus the image onto the retina. The eye cannot focus due to the light not being able to refract properly. This occurs when the eyeball itself is abnormally shaped ("Are You Nearsighted or Farsighted”)If the eye is longer than normal or the cornea curves too much the light ray will hit the retina incorrectly. This condition is called myopia, or nearsightedness and objects that are far away appear blurry. People who are farsighted, hyperopia, have shorter eyes