How

We See and How Glasses (lenses)

Correct Vision: Farsightedness and
Nearsightedness
By: Ching Yin Winnie Lo
Date: June 7, 2016

Introduction
William Shakespeare once said, Eyes are the window to your soul. Eyes are considered
one of the most important sensory organs of the human body; they help people to see and
to learn about the world. The human eye is an intricate system, and each component has its
unique functions. In order for humans to see, all parts of the eyes must properly work
together. Moreover, human eyes make it possible to identify depth, dimension, and color,
by controlling the amount of light that enters the eyes. Our eyes are incredibly sensitive
and require precautions to stay healthy.

Before anyone can understand about corrective lenses, you must know the fundamental
anatomy and functionality of human eyes. This document will first guide you through the
basic anatomy and functions of each component of the human eyes. Afterwards, we will
discuss in more depth information about correcting farsightedness and nearsightedness.
1

Anatomy of Human Eyes

There are 5 main components of the human eye that play specific roles in perceiving and
processing light. These components also act as a system to transfer visual information to
the brain. The following are the 5 main components of the human eyes and their functions.

1. Cornea

The cornea is the transparent front-surface of

the eye. It acts as the first defense of the human
eye, to protect the eye from bacteria, dust,
eyelashes, and other harmful matter. It is strong,
durable, and clear. Before light can pass through
the eye, the cornea is the first component of the
eye that focuses light.

Figure 1. Cornea of human eye.

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2. Iris and Pupil

The iris is a flat, ring-shaped membrane with
colored-pigment behind the cornea (Red shaded
region in figure 2). It has a small circular opening
in the center, which allows light to pass through,
after the cornea it. It also controls the amount of
light that passes into the back of the eye, by
constantly adjusting the size of the pupil.
The pupil is the small circular opening in the
center of the iris that is directly in contact with
the front surface of the eye lens (Figure 2), and
the iris determines its size or diameter. This
helps to adjust the amount of light that enters
the eye lens.

Figure 2. Iris and pupil. http://medhealthdaily.com

3. Eye Lens
The eye lens is a biconvex-shaped, crystalline
lens (orange shaded region in figure 3) that lies
directly behind the iris and pupil. It constantly
changes its shape to refract and focus light into
the back of the eye, depending on the distance
from the light source. Usually, the eye lens loses
its elasticity as people age, which is the main
cause of farsightedness and nearsightedness.

Figure 3. Pupil and Eye Lens. http://www.lasikcenter.com/

4. Retina
The retina is the light-sensitive tissue lining
the back of the human eye (upper green arrow
in figure 4). When the cornea, iris, pupil, and
eye lens properly work together, light rays
from an object focus onto the retina and create
impulses. Impulses are then transmited to the
brain through the optic nerve (lower green
arrow in figure 4), which is located at the very
back of the eyeball.

Figure 4. Retina and Optic Nerve.

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How the Human Eye Works

Light reflects from nearly all objects on Earth, due to the Sun and artificial light. When light
enters the human eye, it focuses through the retina and then through the cornea, iris, and
eye lens. At the same time, the eye is sending an image to the brain, an impulse, for
interpretation. First, light passes through the cornea into the pupil. The iris adjusts the
pupil to the appropriate size, depending on the amount of light in the process. In addition,
it is important that the iris is constantly changing the size of the pupil, to prevent damage
from excessive exposure of light. After light focuses through the cornea, the last filter
before reaching the retina is the eye lens. The eye lens is also constantly changing its shape
to focus different amounts of light, depending on the distance of the object. When focusing
light from a far-distant object, the lens becomes thinner to converge light on the retina. On
the other hand, focusing light from a near-distant object, the lens becomes thicker to
diverge light from the retina. This adjustment of the eye lens is called accommodation
(Figure 5).

Figure 5. Light Source Distances Accommodations. http://www.sciencemadesimple.co.uk/

In some cases, light does not properly focus on the retina, which can result from many different
factors. The most common explanations for this deviance are nearsightedness and farsightedness,
both conditions that can be simply corrected by supplemental concave or convex lenses in
glasses or contact lenses.
3

Correct Farsightedness with Concave lenses

Another name for farsightedness is Hyperopia. It happens when the eye lens does not
converge enough light, and the converged point arrives beyond the retina. People with this
condition will not be able to see a clear image of a near object. Therefore, doctors may
prescribe a pair of glasses with convex lenses (converging lenses) for patients with
Hyperopia. It helps converge the refracted light in an larger angle, so that the light rays
distance of converging point can be shortened and be able to arrive at the retina. The
following figure shows the general concept of how the convex lenses work.

Before

After

Figure 2. Correction of Hyperopia with Convex lens. http://www.sciencemadesimple.co.uk/

Winnie C

Correct Nearsightedness with Convex lenses

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The opposite of farsightedness is nearsightedness, also called Myopia. When the eye lens
allows too much light to pass, it cannot diverge light rays far enough to reach the retina.
Instead, the light rays are diverging in front of the retina and are not able to reach it.
Patients with this condition can be corrected with concave lens (diverging lens), which it
diverges light rays further, so that light rays are long enough to reach the retina. The
following figure shows the general concept of how the concave lenses work.

Before
After

Figure 3. Correction of Myopia with Concave lens. http://www.sciencemadesimple.co.uk/

Conclusion
We first introduced the 5 components of the eye that play major roles in perceiving light
from objects. These components are the cornea, iris, pupil, eye lens and retina. Each
component has its own functions, and all of them have to properly work together, in order
to allow working vision. Usually people have problems with seeing blurry images because
of many reasons, including the loss of elasticity of the eye lens as we age. Two common
vision problems are mentioned. These conditions are farsightedness (Hyperopia) and
nearsightedness (Myopia). Both conditions are related to the eye lens shape adjustment
and can be corrected by prescribed glasses with convex or concave lenses. This document
is meant to provide detailed information for patients and customers who need glasses to
correct their vision, also to inform pre-optometry students how human eyes work.
According to the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS), 6 out of 10 people wear glasses
or contact lenses in the United States. Therefore, 60 percent of the United State may find
this document useful, as it provides a general knowledge of optics, and the reason of
wearing glasses prior to their purchases or doctor visit.

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Note: This document will mainly be used in two different settings, which are optical
clinics and Introductory II Physics class lectures in universities. Those who have annual eye
exams or eye complications can acquire this document via an optical clinic and learn how
their eyes work in more depth. Students who take a collegiate level of optical physics will
find this document very resourceful. It can provide the student with general concepts of
optics and serve as a studying tool prior to their examinations.

Works Cited

Bruggink JW. 2013 Sept 20. More than 6 in 10 people wear glasses or contact lenses.
Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek ; [cited 2016 June 8]. https://www.cbs.nl/engb/news/2013/38/more-than-6-in-10-people-wear-glasses-or-contact-lenses

Segre LS. Human Eye Anatomy: Parts of the Eye. Allaboutvision; [2014 Feb, cited 2016
June 8]. http://www.allaboutvision.com/resources/anatomy.htm
Gamble Z. 2014 Sept 4. How do our eyes work? [Internet].Science made Simple; [ cited
2016 June 8]. http://www.sciencemadesimple.co.uk/curriculum-blogs/biology-blogs/how-doour-eyes-work