• Question: what are your eyeballs made of?

    Asked by 822thaf37 to Christie, Dan, David, Dawn, Sian on 20 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Christie Waddington

      Christie Waddington answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      It’s quite hard to describe without showing you a picture, so I’ve found a cool diagram you can have a look at:

      http://www.opticalmasters.com/the-anatomy-of-the-eye.html

      At school I remember we opened up a pig’s eyeball, and the vitreous humour (the jelly bit the makes the bulk of the eyeball) squirted out and hit my friend. She screamed and ran out of the classroom!

      Optometry has really come on the last 10 years, and they can do all sorts of surgeries to repair eyesight including laser eye surgery, lens replacement and corneal transplants. Its really amazing!

    • Photo: Sian Thomas

      Sian Thomas answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      Yes, as Christie says lots of experimentation on eyes uses animal specimens. Usually these are provided by the local slaughter house. Did you know that wherever an animal is slaughtered for food in the UK there will be a vet and a meat inspector there to check it is done properly. As these are Food Standards Agency staff from time to time I go to slaughterhouses – to remind me about all of the data that we collect and how difficulty it is for people inputting this into our systems to do their job. And whenever I go in I feel a little uncomfortable – like all of the animals are looking at me through human-like eyes.

    • Photo: Dawn Lau

      Dawn Lau answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      The short answer? Mostly water.

      Christie has a good long answer version! 🙂

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