Facts About the Eyes You May Not Know

February is AMD(Age-Related Macular Degeneration)/Low Vision Awareness Month, but doesn’t apply to many in our patient base, so instead I thought it would be more enjoyable to learn about some more fun facts about the eyes! Here are some of them:

1.  Blue-eyed people share a common ancestor with every other blue-eyed person in the world!

2.  Heterochromia refers to a condition where the eyes are two different colors

3.  Color blindness is more common in males than females

4.  The older we get, the less tears we produce

5.  Newborn babies will cry, but not produce tears until they are about 6 weeks old

6. Eyelashes keep dirt out of the eyes

7.  Eyebrows prevent sweat from dripping into your eyes

8.  Dogs can’t distinguish between red and green

9.  An ostrich eye is bigger than its brain

10.  The cornea is the only tissue in the human body that doesn’t contain blood

11.  Dolphins sleep with one eye open

12.  Owls are the only bird that can see the color blue

13.  The human eye only sees 3 colors...red, blue and green. All other colors are combinations of these

14.  The human eye can see 500 shades of grey

15.  When your eyes are watering it may be a sign of dry eyes, and your eyes are creating more moisture to compensate

16.  Your nose gets runny when you cry as your tears drain into your nasal passages

17.  Your eyes are composed of rods and cones. Rods allow you to see shapes, while cones are responsible for detecting and deciphering colors

18.  Your eye is the body’s fastest muscle, hence the phrase “in the blink of an eye”

19.  The night vision of Tigers is 6 times better than humans

20.  Pirates wore earrings because they believed that it improved their eyesight

21.  Eyes heal quickly. With proper care it only takes 48 hours to heal a minor corneal scratch or abrasion

22.  Scorpions can have as many as 12 eyes

23.  We have two eyeballs to give us depth perception/judge distances better

24.  You blink more when you talk

25.  10,000 years ago everyone’s eyes were brown until someone living by the Black Sea developed a genetic mutation that made their eyes blue