10 Interesting Eye Facts You Didn't See Coming (Ba Dum Tss!)

Here at Eyebou we believe that our eyes are one of the most fascinating parts of our bodies. We experience so much of the world around us through our vision and to celebrate that we have compiled a list of some of the most interesting facts about our eyes.

 

1. We don’t see with our eyes!

That’s right! Our eyes work like a pair of cameras to capture information and they send this to the brain via the optic nerve. However, like a game of Broken Telephone gone wrong, the images that get sent to the brain are upside down and 2D. Once the brain has received these images it flips them the right way round and creates a 3D image.

 

2. Some people have a fear of eyes!

The scientific term for extreme fear of eyes is Ommatophobia and it normally affects people that have had some traumatic experience involving eyes in the past. Someone with Ommatophobia may struggle with eye contact and feel anxiety if faced with any triggers of their fear.

 

3. Why do we blink?

Have you ever paid attention to how much you blink? On average we blink over 20,000 times in one day, and each blink takes around 1/3 of a second. Blinking must be important because while we are awake we spend about 10 percent of the time with our eyes closed! Acting like wipers our eyelids keep our eyes lubricated with tear fluid, wash away irritants and research shows it may provide the brain with a mini rest.  

Eyebou vitamin contact lenses can help with the quality and quantity of the tears your eyes produce, keeping them feeling refreshed throughout the day!

Try a trial box of vitamin lenses

 

4. The eye muscles are the fastest muscles in the body

There are a number of different muscles in our eyes and the ones that are the fastest are responsible for moving our eyes in different directions. These are called the extraocular muscles and each eye has six of them.

 

5. Vision problems

Roughly 2.2 billion people globally have some form of vision impairment and over 50% of these people could have had these problems prevented, if they received the appropriate care. That’s why at Eyebou our core mission is to make eyecare accessible and affordable.

 

6. Can you guess what the most common eye colour is?

Brown is the most common eye colour with over half of the world’s population rocking brown eyes. There is only one eye pigment (called melanin) that is responsible for the colour of our eyes, a higher concentration of this pigment will be seen in people with brown eyes. If you have ever wondered what you would look like with different coloured eyes check out what they'll look like using the "Try  on" AR feature in our app.

Download the Eyebou app

 

7. Rapid eye movement 

One of the stages of the sleep cycle is called rapid eye movement sleep (REM-sleep) and this is the time that most of our dreams happen. From the name of this cycle it is obvious that one of the signs of REM-sleep is rapid eye movement and brain activity also increases to a similar amount close to when we are awake.

 

8. Are eye transplants possible?

Currently a whole eye transplant has not yet been successfully carried out.  The eye has a very complex anatomy and is directly connected to the brain by the optic nerve making this procedure very complicated. Scientists are hoping that this will be possible within the next decade. You may have heard of eye transplants happening and this is when only a part of the eye is being transplanted. 

 

9. Newborns don’t produce tears

Newborn babies can definitely cry a lot however their tear ducts are not fully matured until they are about 4-13 weeks old. This means that they will make the crying sound but no tears will be formed, so you can save the tissue for the sleep deprived parents.

 

10. Can humans see in the dark?

We can not see in complete darkness however we can see in low-light conditions. It can take around 10 to 30 minutes to fully adapt to seeing in low-light and you will not see any colour, only black and white.