Fifteen Fun Facts About Eyes

Fifteen Fun Facts About Eyes

You are a fascinating person. There is so much about you that makes you unique. Your contribution to the world is second-to-none. 

When you think about what makes you special, one of your distinguishing features is your eye color. Your eyes might be blue, brown, green, hazel, or likely something in between a few color options. 

Just like there is more to you than what people see on the surface, there is much more to the eye than simply the color of your iris or the shape of your eyebrows. 

The eyes are one of the most fascinating parts of the human body. In this article, we want to share some of our favorite facts about the eye. 

 

Fifteen Facts About the Eye That May Surprise You

  1. Your Eyes Are Organs: While we typically think about our organs being inside our bodies, the eye is not hidden by another organ - your skin. 
  2. Your Eyes Do Grow: It is a myth that eyes remain the same size throughout your entire life. Your eye grows from the time you’re born, when it is about 16 millimeters, to your twenties, when it will reach about twenty-four millimeters (or about one inch). 
  3. Your Eyes as a Baby: An infant’s eyes do not produce tears until the child is about four to thirteen weeks old.
  4. Your Eyes See a Lot of Colors and Shapes: Your eyes focus on about fifty unique objects each second and can distinguish between roughly ten million different colors. 
  5. Your Eyes Blink a Lot: You blink approximately twelve times each minute. The muscles that control blinking are some of the speediest in your body.
  6. Your Eyes Have Rods and Cones: Your eye is made up of numerous tiny rods and cones. The rods help your brain perceive shapes, while the cones help you see colors.
  7. Your Eyes Can Be Impacted by Blindness and Vision Impairment: Blindness impacts more people than you might think. Just under forty million people in the world experience blindness, while nearly two-hundred-fifty million people are impacted by impaired vision. 
  8. Your Eyes See Things Upside Down: Your eyes first take in images upside down. It is only once the signals reach your brain that they are turned right side up. 
  9. Your Eyes Need Each Other for Depth Perception: One of the reasons we rely on both eyes is that they are necessary for perceiving how far objects are from us and how quickly they are moving. 
  10. Your Eyes Are Impacted by Nutrition: The foods you eat affect your eye health. Foods that are rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Zinc, Lutein, Zeaxanthin, and Meso Zeaxanthin help preserve your vision and improve the health of your eyes.
  11. Your Eyes Heal Quickly: Eye injuries are common for people who play sports or work outside. Fortunately, eyes bounce back quickly. A scratched cornea, for instance, can heal in as little as 40-hours. 
  12. Your Eyes Might Be Different Colors: About 1% of the world’s population have Heterochromia, a term used to describe being born with two different colored eyes. 
  13. Your Eyes See Flames and Light from Far Away: If your vision is unobstructed, your eyes can perceive a candle flame from over a mile and a half away. 
  14. Your Eyes Are Unique: While your fingerprint has upwards of forty unique characteristics, it is no match for the eye’s 256 unique characteristics. 
  15. Your Eyes Require Care: With an organ so complex and unique, it is no wonder it requires care and attention. 

Why You Need Eye Care Professionals in Your Life

Your eyes are special. They are unique, with their own special characteristics and challenges. You need to make sure you have eye care professionals in your life that can help make sure they are properly cared for.  As the old saying goes “You only get two”.

The kind of optometrist you need will have their own key attributes, including:

  • Experience: You want eye care professionals who have extensive experience helping people care for their eyes. 
  • Expertise: Experience matters, but so does knowledge. You want eye care professionals who are well-studied and know what they are doing. 
  • Compassion: You may not trust how much your eye care professionals know until you know how much they care. A caring optometrist will help your kids begin trusting eye care professionals early in their lives. 
  • Tools: In addition to expertise, experience, and compassion, your eye care professionals should have access to the tools they need to improve your eye health. 

Asheville Vision and Wellness’s optometrists and professionals have extensive knowledge and experience caring for your eyes. We have been in western North Carolina for over thirty years, helping Asheville area residents see more clearly. 

Our compassionate team has the tools we need to diagnose any potential issues with your fascinating eyes. We can help you on the path to improvement with corrective lenses and advice on how to maintain and improve your vision through diet. 

Contact the team here at Asheville Vision and Wellness for more information about how to care for your eyes. 

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