ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY

OF THE EYE

Siti Hani Amiralevi

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THE ORBIT
• The orbital cavity is schematically represented as a pyramid of four walls that
converge posteriorly. The medial walls of the right and left orbit are parallel
and are separated by the nose.
• The orbital cavity is the protective bony socket for the globe together with the
optic nerve, ocular muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and lacrimal gland. These
structures are surrounded by orbital fatty tissue.

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• The roof consists of two bones: the lesser
wing of the sphenoid and the orbital
plate of the frontal bone.
• The lateral wall consists of two bones:
the greater wing of the sphenoid and
the zygomatic.
• The floor consists of three bones: the
zygomatic, maxillary and palatine.
• The medial wall consists of four bones:
maxillary, lacrimal, ethmoid and
sphenoid.
• The superior orbital fissure, between
the greater and lesser wings of the
sphenoid bone; through it pass numerous
important structures.
• The inferior orbital fissure lies between
the greater wing of the sphenoid and
the maxilla.

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• The principal arterial supply of the orbit and its structures derives from
the ophthalmic artery, the first major branch of the intracranial portion
of the internal carotid artery.
• The venous drainage of the orbit is primarily through the superior and
inferior ophthalmic veins, into which drain the vortex veins, the anterior
ciliary veins, and the central retinal vein. The ophthalmic veins
communicate with the cavernous sinus via the superior orbital fissure and
the pterygoid venous plexus via the inferior orbital fissure

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THE EYELIDS
 Palpebra protecting eyes from injury
and excessive light
 At the superficial, palpebra covered
with skin and in the inside covered
with mucosa membrane called
conjungtiva
 Cilia grow at the edge of palpebra.

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Superficial layer :
• Thin, well vascularized layer of skin.
• Glands of Moll
• Glands of Zeis
• Orbicularis oculi muscle

Deep layer:
• Tarsal plate
• Tarsal muscle
• Palpebral conjunctiva
• Glands of Meibomian

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LACRIMAL DRAINAGE SYSTEM
• The puncta are located at the
posterior edge of the lid margin,
• The canaliculi pass vertically from
the lid margin for about 2 mm
(ampullae).
• The lacrimal sac is 10–12 mm long
and lies in the lacrimal fossa
between the anterior and posterior
lacrimal crests.
• The nasolacrimal duct is 12–18 mm
long and is the inferior continuation
of the lacrimal sac.

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•Tears secreted by the main and accessory lacrimal
glands pass across the ocular surface.
•Tears flow along the upper and lower marginal
strips, pooling in the lacus lacrimalis medial to the
lower puncta, then entering the upper and lower
canaliculi by a combination of capillarity and
suction.
•With each blink, the pretarsal orbicularis oculi
muscle compresses the ampullae, shortens and
compresses the horizontal canaliculi, and closes
and moves the puncta medially, resisting reflux.
Simultaneously, contraction of the lacrimal part of
the orbicularis oculi creates a positive pressure
that forces tears down the nasolacrimal duct and
into the nose,
•When the eyes open, the canaliculi and sac
expand, creating negative pressure that draws
tears from the canaliculi into the sac

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THE CONJUNGTIVA

Function of the conjunctival sac:

1. Motility of the eyeball.
2. Articulating layer.
3. Protective function.

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THE EYEBALL
The eyeball contains the optical apparatus of the visual system. The eyeball has three layer; the three
layers of the eyeball are:
1. Fibrous layer (outer coat), consisting of the sclera and cornea.
2. Vascular layer (middle coat), consisting of the choroid, ciliary body, and iris.
3. Inner layer (inner coat), consisting of the retina, which has both optic and non-visual parts.

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THE CORNEA
 Transparent, dome-shaped window
covering the front of the eye (normally
clear with a shiny surface) Responsible
for about three-quarters of the optical
power of the eye and for protection
 Extremely sensitive
 More nerve endings than anywhere else
in the body

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 The corneal tissue consists of five layers
1. The surface of the cornea is formed by stratified
nonkeratinized squamous epithelium that regenerates
quickly when injured.
2. A thin basement membrane anchors the basal cells of the
stratified squamous epithelium to Bowman’s layer. This layer
is highly resistant but cannot regenerate. As a result, injuries
to Bowman’s layer usually produce corneal scarring.
3. Beneath Bowman’s layer, many lamellae of collagen fibrils
form the corneal stroma. The stroma is a highly bradytrophic
tissue. As avascular tissue, it only regenerates slowly.
4. Descemet’s membrane is a relatively strong membrane. It
will continue to define the shape of the anterior chamber
even where the corneal stroma has completely melted
The five layers of the cornea have few cells membrane, lost tissue is regenerated by functional endothelial
cells.
and are unstructured and avascular. Its
5. The corneal endothelium is responsible for the transparency
metabolism is slow, which means that healing
of the cornea. A high density of epithelial cells is necessary to
is slow.
achieve this. The corneal endothelium does not regenerate;
Nutrients are supplied and metabolic defects in the endothelium are closed by cell enlargement
products removed mainly via the aqueous and cell migration.
humour posteriorly and the tears anteriorly.
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THE SCLERA
• The sclera and the cornea form the rigid outer covering of the eye. All
six ocular muscles insert into the sclera.
• Fibrous, whitish opaque, and consists of nearly acellular connective tissue
with a higher water content than the cornea.
• The site where the fibers of the optic nerve enter the sclera is known as
the lamina cribrosa. In the angle of the anterior chamber, the sclera
forms the trabecular network and the canal of Schlemm. The aqueous
humor drains from there into the intrascleral and episcleral venous plexus
through about 20 canaliculi.

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THE UVEA
The uveal tract consists of the following structures:
• Iris
• Ciliary body
• Choroid.

The uveal tract lies between the sclera and retina.

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THE IRIS
The iris consists of two layers:
• The anterior mesodermal stromal layer.
• The posterior ectodermal pigmented epithelial layer.
The posterior layer is opaque and protects the eye against excessive incident light.
The anterior surface of the lens and the pigmented layer are so close together near
the pupil that they can easily form adhesions in inflammation.

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THE CILIARY BODY
The ciliary body extends from the root of the iris to the ora serrata, where it joins the
choroid. It consists of anterior pars plicata and the posterior pars plana, which lies
3.5 mm posterior to the limbus. Numerous ciliary processes extend into the posterior
chamber of the eye. The suspensory ligament, the zonule, extends from the pars
plana and the intervals between the ciliary processes to the lens capsule.

Function: The ciliary muscle is responsible for accommodation. The doublelayered

epithelium covering the ciliary body produces the aqueous humor.

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THE CHOROID
Position and structure: The choroid is the middle tunic of the eyeball. It is
bounded on the interior by Bruch’s membrane. The choroid is highly vascularized,
containing a vessel layer with large blood vessels and a capillary layer.
The blood flow through the choroid is the highest in the entire body.
Function: The choroid regulates temperature and supplies nourishment to
the outer layers of the retina.

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THE PUPIL
• The pupil refers to the central opening in the iris. It acts as an aperture to improve
the quality of the resulting image by controlling the amount of light that enters the
eye.
• Normal pupil size: Pupil size ranges from approximately 1mm (miosis) to
approximately 8mm (mydriasis).
• Pupils tend to be wider in joy, fear, or surprise due to increased sympathetic tone,
and when the person inhales deeply.
• Pupils tend to be narrower in the newborn due to parasympathetic tone, in the
elderly due to decreased mesencephalic inhibition and sympathetic diencephalic
activity, in light, during sleep, and when the person is fatigued (due to decreased
sympathetic activity).

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THE AQUEOUS
Aqueous humor is
produced by the ciliary
body. Entering the
posterior chamber, it
passes through the pupil
into the anterior chamber
and then peripherally
toward the anterior
chamber angle.

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THE LENS
• The lens is a biconvex, avascular, colorless, and almost completely
transparent structure
• About 4 mm thick and 9 mm in diameter.
• It is suspended behind the iris by the zonule, which connects it with the ciliary
body. Anterior to the lens is the aqueous; posterior to it, the vitreous.
• The epithelium of the lens helps to maintain the ion equilibrium and permit
transportation of nutrients, minerals, and water into the lens. This type of
transportation, referred to as a “pump-leak system,” permits active
transfer of sodium, potassium, calcium, and amino acids

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THE VITREOUS
• The vitreous is a clear, avascular, gelatinous body that
comprises two-thirds of the volume and weight of the
eye. It fills the space bounded by the lens, retina, and
optic disk.
• Composition of the vitreous body: The gelatinous
vitreous body consists of 98% water and 2% collagen
and hyaluronic acid. It fills the vitreous chamber which
accounts for approximately two-thirds of the total
volume of the eye.

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THE RETINA
• The retina is a thin, semitransparent,
multilayered sheet of neural tissue that
lines the inner aspect of the posterior
two-thirds of the wall of the globe.
• Extends almost as far anteriorly as the
ciliary body, ending at that point in the
ora serrata

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Moving inward along the path of incident
light, the individual layers of the retina are
as follows :

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RELEASE OF NEUROTRANSMITTER BY
PHOTORECEPTORS

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THE OPTIC NERVE
The optic nerve extends from the posterior pole of the eye to the optic chiasm. After
this characteristic crossing, the fibers of the optic nerve travel as the optic tract to
the lateral geniculate body. Depending on the shape of the skull, the optic nerve has a
total length of 35 ・55 mm. The nerve consists of:
An intraocular portion.
An intraorbital portion.
An intracranial portion.

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•The intraocular portion of the optic nerve is visible on
ophthalmoscopy as the optic disk. All the retinal nerve fibers
merge into the optic nerve here, and the central retinal vessels
enter and leave the eye here.
•The intraorbital portion begins after the nerve passes through
lamina cribrosa.
•After the optic nerve passes through the optic canal, the short
intracranial portion begins and extends as far as the optic
chiasm.
•Like the brain, the intraorbital and intracranial portions of the
optic nerve are surrounded by sheaths of dura mater, pia, and
arachnoid.
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The anatomy of the visual pathway may be divided into six separate parts :
1) Optic nerve: This includes all of the optic nerve fiber bundles of the eye.
2) Optic chiasm: This is where the characteristic crossover of the nerve fibers of both optic nerves occurs.
3) Optic tract: This includes all of the ipsilateral optic nerve fibers and those that cross the midline.
4) Lateral geniculate body: The optic tract ends here.
5) Optic radiations (geniculocalcarine tracts)
6) Primary visual area (striate cortex or Brodmann’s area 17 of the visual cortex):

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THE EXTRAOCCULAR
MUSCLE
Rectus muscle
 The four rectus muscles originate at
a common ring tendon (annulus of
Zinn) surrounding the optic nerve at
the posterior apex of the orbit.
 The principal action of the
respective muscles is thus to
adduct, abduct, depress, and
elevate the globe.

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Oblique muscle
 The two oblique muscles control primarily torsional movement and, to a lesser
extent, upward and downward movement of the globe. The superior oblique
is the longest and thinnest of the ocular muscles. It originates above and
medial to the optic foramen and partially overlaps the origin of the levator
palpebrae superioris muscle. The superior oblique has a thin, fusiform belly
(40 mm long) and passes anteriorly in the form of a tendon to its trochlea, or
pulley.
 The inferior oblique muscle originates from the nasal side of the orbital wall
just behind the inferior orbital rim and lateral to the nasolacrimal duct. It
passes beneath the inferior rectus and then under the lateral rectus muscle to
insert onto the sclera with a short tendon.

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TERIMA KASIH
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