Eyes Flashcards
How do images form on the retina?
Light waves from object bent by cornea + lens (refraction of light)
Closer the object thicker the lens
How does the eye accommodate for distances?
Ie (from distant to close)
Lens changes shape
>(thicker + more spherical )
Pupils constrict
Eyes converge
How does the lens change shape?
Ciliary muscle contracts making ciliary body bulge
Space in middle decreases
Suspensory ligaments become lax
Lens no longer stretched, becomes thicker
Opposite if close to distant (muscle relaxes etc)
What effect do the pupils changing dilation have in accommodation?
By constricting allows only the rays from the object into the eye, or allows more rays in if dilate Pupillary constrictor (sphincter pupillae) is a concentric muscle around the border of the pupil which gets parasympathetic innervation.
What are the types of refractive errors?
Myopia
Hyeropia
Astigmatism
Presbyopia
What is myopia?
Short sightedness
Where image is formed in front of the retina
Eyeball often too long
Bending power too much for the eye
When object brought closer, rays are divergent and need to be bent more, thus formed on the retina
What are the symptoms of myopia in children?
Headaches, unable to see whiteboard
Can form divergent squint
Toddlers may lose interest in sports/people - more interest in books/pictures
How do you correct myopia?
Bending power must be decreased
Bi-concave lenses - spectackes/contact lenses
Laser surgery
What is hyperopia?
Long-sightedness
Bending power not great enough, image formed behind retina
Eyeball often too short, cannot see nearby
Uses muscles to thicken lens for far away objects
Cannot thicken past a point, and then cannot see clearly
What are teh symptoms of hyperopia?
Often eyestrain when reading/on computer
Convergent squint in children - needs immediate correction
May have lazy eye
How do you correct hyperopia?
Can treat with biconvex lenses/glasses
+ surgery
What is astigmatism?
Surface has different curvatures
Therefore bending of light never the same as in the other axis so image hazy
Laser eye surgery, or lenses only curved in one axis
>Special contact lenses called toric lenses
What is presbyopia?
Where lens gets less mobile/elastic
Not as able to change shape, so nearby objects difficult
Treat with biconvex glasses
What is phototransduction?
Conversion of light energy into electrochemical response by photoreceptors (rods/cones)
Phototransduced rods/cones activate optic neurones (generate AP)
Photoreceptors (contained in lamellae part of rod/cone) have different wavelengths
Send signals when specific sensitivity reached
What pigment is responsible for vision?
Opsin + 11-cis Retinal
What is 11-cis retinal?
chromophore nesting in the opsin - formed from dietary Vitamin-A.
When light falls on 11-cis retinal, isomerises into transretinal - elongates and won’t fit into opsin, so rhodopsin splits resulting in bleaching of visual purple
What is the phototransduction cascade?
Rhodopsin is activated
Leads to sodium channels closing
Relative hyperpolarisation of photoreceptor cell
Transmitted by a flux of calcium ions, ultimately stimulates retinal cell
How is rhodopsin regenerated?
Trans retinol converted to 11-cis rol, converted to 11-cis retinal
Bi product of retinyl esters, and so need continous vitamin A in diet
Why is vitamin A important?
Without can lead to night blindness
Conjunctiva and corneal epithelium abnormal as needed for epithelium health
Clinical sign - bitots spots in conjunctiva - triangle of spec. Last a while
Corneal ulceration - dye to see extent
Cornea can “melt” leading to future opacification
What are the two types of ocular musclee + their function?
Intrinsic muscles - help control pupil diameter + alter lens curvature
Extrinsic - move eye
Where do the extrinsic muscles arise from?
Recti - from apex of orbit from annular ring
Superior oblique - posterior roof of orbit
Inferior oblique - anterior floor of orbit
What are the attachments of the levator papellae superiosus?
Roof of orbit
To upper eyelid
What are the attachments of the recti muscles?
Tendonous ring
Sclera anteriorly
What are the attachments of the superior oblique?
Lesser wing of sphenoid Sclera posterioly (via trochlea)
What are the attachments of the inferior oblique?
Medial part of orbit floor
Sclera posteriorly
Why do the extrinsic muscles move the eye in multiple directions?
Muscles attached along orbital axis, not optical so pull eyeball at an angle - each muscle will have more than one movement
Oblique muscles attached to posterior part of sclera, so pull anterior part in opposite direction
What are the signs of the three main eye nerve palsies?
Third >Drooping eyelid >Eye can move only laterally (and slightly down) Fourth >Eye moving up when adducted Sixth >Eye being adducted >Unable to abduct
What is squint?
Misalignment of the eyes
Leads to two different images in brain
What are the two main types of squint?
Esotropia - manifest convergent squint
Exotropia - manifest divergent squint
What are the consequences of squint?
Amblyopia (lazy eye) - brain supresses images from one eye leading to poor vision in that eye without any pathology.
Treat by stimulating “lazy” eye to work with eye patch in younger years
Diplopia (double vision) - normally squint due to palsies
What is the visual pathway?
All fibres from eye pass through optic chiasma. The Temporal view (fibres near nasal) cross over to other side of the brain
Therefore two optic tracts formed, one from right, one from left visual fields, and are on opposite side of brain to their field
These fibres synapse at the lateral geniculate body of thalamus
Form optic radiation, passes behind internal capsule to reach primary visual cortex in occipital lobe
Thus the Right visual cortex sees the left half of the visual field and vice versa.
What visual defect would damage in the optic nerve lead to?
Blindness in one eye
What visual defect would damage in the middle of the optic chiasma lead to?
Both lateral view lost (bitemportal hemianopia)