Some Myths and Fun Facts About Your Eyes
- 2. Many of us are disturbed by the occurrence of a “red eye” in a photograph. Here’s why it happens: “Red eye” occurs in photos because light from the flash bounces off the back of the eye. The choroid, rich in blood vessels, is located behind the retina and appears red on film.
- 3. Eyes can heal themselves very quickly. 48 hours is sufficient to repair a minor corneal scratch.
- 4. Your eyes start to develop two weeks post- fertilization.
- 5. People who are blind can see their dreams if they weren’t born blind.
- 6. An iris has 256 unique characteristics, while a fingerprint has only 40. No wonder why a retina scan is more reliable than a fingerprint scan for security purposes!
- 7. Only 1/6 of our eyeball is exposed.
- 8. Corneas are the only tissues that don’t have blood. Apart from the cornea, some other areas of the body including hair, nails, tooth enamel and the outer skin layers, do not have blood supplies. So it is more accurate to say that corneas are the only ‘living’ tissues that don’t have blood.
- 9. Newborns can only make crying sounds; the tears don’t start flowing until 4-13 weeks after birth.
- 10. Some people have a condition called heterochromia and are born with two differently colored eyes.
- 11. An eye, being composed of more than two million working parts, is the second most complex organ after the brain. Seeing an object requires about half of the brain to get involved. The muscles that control our eyes are more active than any other muscle in our body.
- 12. The human eye can distinguish around 10 million different colors. Some women can have a genetic mutation which causes them to see millions of more colors.
- 13. We blink about 12 times every minute, with each blink lasting for about 1/10th of a second. This means around 10% of our waking hours is spent with our eyes closed due to blinking.
- 14. It is impossible to sneeze while keeping our eyes open.
- 15. Your eyeballs stay the same size from birth to death Our eyeballs indeed grow bigger as we grow up. A new-born’s eyeball is about 75% of the size of an adult eyeball.
- 16. Our pupil dilates 45% when looking at something pleasant.
- 17. Eating carrots will improve your vision. Carrots have beta carotene and are a source of Vitamin A. However, they can only prevent diseases caused by Vitamin A deficiency, like night blindness, but do not significantly improve vision.
- 18. Sitting close to the television will harm your eyes. Sitting close to the television is a sign of nearsightedness, but it is not what causes damages to your eyes. Rather, it is the number of hours spent in front of the television screen which is the determining factor.