About Your Eyes

How much do you know about your eyes?

Here are some fun facts that can improve your knowledge and awareness about these essential organs.

How long does a blink last?

An average blink lasts for one tenth of a second.

On average, you blink about 12 times every minute,

which adds up to 420 million times a year.

Why do cats’ eyes glow in the dark?

Many vertebrates have a special reflective structure behind the retina in their eyes that many primates, humans, birds, pigs, kangaroos and other vertebrates do not have. We now know that cats’ eyes appear to glow because they reflect light.

How far can the human eye see?

The human eye can focus on clear and bright objects at different distances by adjusting the focal length of the eye lens. As of now, the recorded most distant star ever seen was in March 2008. There was a star explosion in the universe which created brilliant light that could be seen with the naked eye. This star was estimated to be 7.5 billion light years away from Earth.

What is “ommatophobia”?

We know about common phobias like acrophobia (fear of heights), nyctophobia (fear of dark) and entomophobia (fear of insects), but a slightly lesser-known phobia is ommatophobia – the fear of eyes.


How many muscles does an eye have?

There is a combination of 10 muscles both surrounding and within the eye. The muscles surrounding the eye include six small muscles that control the eye itself (called the extraocular muscles), as well as one that controls the eyelid. Although these muscles aren’t particularly strong, they are extremely fast and precise.

There are two muscles inside the eye that work to constrict and dilate the pupil. And one final muscle is there to help the eye focus on near objects.



What is the most active muscle in our body?

Out of all the muscles in your body, the muscles that control your eyes are the most active. The six muscles that control each eye are responsible for tracking moving objects, scanning for objects and maintaining stable images on the retina.



Do our eyes have “fingerprints”?

It’s common knowledge that we all have unique fingerprints, and a finger typically has around 40 unique characteristics. However, the iris in our eye has over 250 unique characteristics!

Why do I see flashes of white light when I close my eyes while washing my face?

This is a normal situation. Besides being light sensitive, the retina in our eyes is also sensitive to external forces such as pulling or pressing. If you see flashes of white light when you close your eyes while washing your face, it may reflect that the pressure you’re applying is too high. The high pressure diffuses from the eyelids to eyeball, then finally reaches the retina, and hence you will see the flash of white light as a result. As the eye structure is very complex, it is better to avoid applying external forces to the eye.

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