Vision — the Eye Up Close
Light enters at the front of the eye and lands at the back. This model shows the outside of the eyeball — its window, its colored gate, its aiming muscles, and the cable that leaves for the brain.
Each dot names a part you can see on the outside of the eye. The optic nerve sits at the back — turn the eye around to find its dot.
The parts at a glance
Tap through the parts in order — from the clear window at the front, around the white coat and muscles, to the optic nerve at the back.
What it is
The eyeball is a camera the body aims. Light passes through the cornea, the clear front window that does most of the focusing, then through the pupil — the opening whose size the iris adjusts to control how much light gets in. Inside, the lens fine-focuses the light onto the retina, the light-sensing layer at the back (both sit inside this solid model, so they are described here rather than dotted).
Outside, the tough white sclera holds the ball's shape, six extraocular muscles aim it, and the optic nerve carries the retina's signals to the brain. Nurses meet this anatomy in pupil checks, eye-movement tests and post-cataract care.
What this model cannot show
Three named parts live inside the eyeball, and no openly licensed cutaway model of them passed verification — so they are honestly left undotted rather than guessed:
- Lens — sits just behind the pupil; it fine-focuses light, and it is the part that clouds in a cataract.
- Retina — the light-sensing layer lining the back inside wall; it turns light into nerve signals.
- Vitreous body — the clear gel filling the ball's main chamber, holding its shape and the retina in place.