Illustration taken and modified from webvision.

Perhaps you remember some of this from school?

A reminder of the parts of the eye may help you understand things better when you talk to an ophthalmologist.

The cornea is a transparent shell over the front of the eye. Behind the cornea is the flexible and transparent lens of the eye. The pupil is the black dot in the middle of the eye when you look someone in the eye. The iris is the ring-like part of the eye that is a shade of brown or blue in colour. The cilliary body is tissue that holds the lens in place, and helps flex it. It also adjusts your pupil size. The sclera is the white of the eyeball. The choroid is a black tissue lining the inside of the eyeball that absorbs light. The retina is a mesh of nerve tissue that detects the light. The optic nerve is the route the signals from the retina travel along to get to the brain. The fovea is the part of the retina with greatest colour vision.