Incredible Eye Facts

  • The average human eyeball is 2.3cm long, and weighs about 28 grams.
  • Except for the brain, the eye is the most complex organ in the human body.
  • Your eye has over 2 MILLION working parts.
  • The compound eye in an insect has many lenses, which their brain forms into one image.
  • During an average life-span, your eyes will transmit 24 million images to your brain.
  • Your eyes use 65% of all the neural pathways into the brain.
  • An eagle can see a rabbit a mile away, but you would need to be 550 yards away to see it! Eagle eyes indeed!
  • Light causes electrical activity in the eye.
  • You use half of your brain to enable you to see.
  • Each year around 40,000 people have a corneal transplant. The oldest ever patient was 103!
  • The cornea of a shark is similar to that of a human, so they have been used in eye surgery.
  • In the USA, the leading cause of blindness in adults is Diabetes.
  • You are probably reading 25% more slowly from your computer screen than you would be from paper.
  • Your eye can distinguish 500 shades of the colour grey.
  • Roughly one person in 30 is colour blind, and it is much more common in men.
  • Fish don’t have eyelids!
  • In good conditions you would be able to see the light from a candle 14 miles away.
  • Sailors used to wear gold earrings because they believed it would improve their vision.
  • Some animals, including moths and flounders have markings that look like eyes.
  • Your body has protection systems in place for your eyes – eyebrows stop sweat from running down into them, eyelashes keep dust and dirt out
  • Glaucoma research has suggested that if men wear their ties too tight it could increase their risk of the disease.
  • You blink approximately 12 times per minute.
  • Bulls are actually colour blind! You could wave any colour of cape in front of them!
  • Your eyes contribute 85% of your knowledge.
  • Six muscles move each eyeball. They are comparatively the strongest muscles in your body, and are 100 times more powerful than is necessary.
  • Mole’s eyes are only 1mm in diameter.
  • As your eyes react to the world around them they can instantaneously set hundreds of muscles and organs in motion.
  • Your eye can function at 100% of it’s ability at any moment, without rest.
  • Horses and some dogs cannot see directly in front of them.
  • When you blink it washes a layer of tears across your eye. This lubricates and cleans the eye.
  • Scallops and clams have 1 -2 rows of eyes, which are set around their shells. This means they can see in all directions.