10 Interesting Eye Facts You Didn’t Know About

1. Size

The average human eye is roughly 1 inch in diameter and the eye stays the same size from birth. The human eye starts to get bigger about 2 weeks after it is in formed in a fetus.

2. Weight

The human eye weighs about 28 grams, which is about 3 tablespoons of sugar. For something so small and light, the eyes take in and processes about 85% of all the information you will ever collect.

3. Blink

On average a human blink takes around one tenth of a second, but blink rates can vary from person to person and can range from 2 blinks per minute up to 50 blinks per minute.

4. Repair

The human eye can heal very quickly. It can take about 48 hours, with correct care, for the eye to heal itself from a corneal abrasion or scratch.

5. Blind Spot

Both human eyes have a small blind spot, it is located where the optic nerves attach to the back of the retina. You can’t see this hole in your vision as your eyes cleverly work together to block each other’s blind spot.

6. Babies

New born babies may cry a lot but they do not produce any tears. Tears start to be made at around 3 months old.

7. Colour Blindness

In many common types of colour blindness, people struggle to distinguish between red and green. Colour blindness affects more men than women and about 1 in 10 men have a form of it.

8. Lots of Parts

The human eye is made up of over 2 million working parts.

9. Cornea

The cornea is the window of the eye and the only human tissue that doesn’t have any blood vessels.

10. Transplants

While ophthalmologists can carry out intricate corneal transplants, the whole eye cannot be transplanted. There are millions of nerves connecting the eye to the brain and at present we are not able to rebuild these networks.