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Anatomy of Eyes
Anatomy of Eyes
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Anatomy of Eyes
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originates from the Old French word ‘‘Anatomie,’’ or a ▶ iris, acting as a diaphragm that regulates the amount A
Late Latin word ‘‘Anatmia.’’ Anatomy implies, ‘‘ana’’ of light entering the eye. Both the iris and the pupil are
meaning ‘‘up’’ and ‘‘tomia’’ meaning ‘‘cutting.’’ covered by the convex transparent cornea, the major
refractive component of the eye due to the huge differ-
▶ Anatomy of Face
ence in refractive index across the air-cornea interface
▶ Anatomy of Hand
[5]. Together with the crystalline lens, the cornea is
responsible for the formation of the optical image on
the retina. The crystalline lens is held in place by
suspensory ligaments, or zonules, that are attached to
the ciliary muscle. Ciliary muscle actions cause the
zonular fibers to relax or tighten and thus provide
Anatomy of Eyes accommodation, the active function of the crystalline
lens. This ability to change its curvature, allowing
K RISTINA I RSCH , DAVID L. G UYTON
objects at various distances to be brought into sharp
The Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute, The Johns
focus on the retinal surface, decreases with age, with
Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore,
the eye becoming ‘‘presbyopic.’’ Besides the cornea
MD, USA
and crystalline lens, both the vitreous and aqueous
humor contribute to the dioptric apparatus of the
Definition eye, leading to an overall refractive power of about
60 diopters [3]. The aqueous humor fills the anterior
The human eye is one of the most remarkable sensory chamber between the cornea and iris, and also fills
systems. Leonardo da Vinci was acutely aware of its the posterior chamber that is situated between the
prime significance: ‘‘The eye, which is termed the win- iris and the zonular fibers and crystalline lens. Togeth-
dow of the soul, is the chief organ whereby the senso er with the vitreous humor, or vitreous, a loose gel
comune can have the most complete and magnificent filling the cavity between the crystalline lens and
view of the infinite works of nature’’ [1]. Human beings retina, the aqueous humor is responsible for main-
gather most of the information about the external taining the intraocular pressure and thereby helps the
environment through their eyes and thus rely on sight eyeball maintain its shape. Moreover, this clear watery
more than on any other sense, with the eye being the fluid nourishes the cornea and crystalline lens. Taken
most sensitive organ we have. Besides its consideration all together, with its refracting constituents, self-adjust-
as a window to the soul, the eye can indeed serve as ing aperture, and finally, its detecting segment, the eye
a window to the identity of an individual. It offers is very similar to a photographic camera. The film of
unique features for the application of identification this optical system is the ▶ retina, the multilayered
technology. Both the highly detailed texture of the sensory tissue of the posterior eyeball onto which the
iris and the fundus blood vessel pattern are unique to light entering the eye is focused, forming a reversed and
every person, providing suitable traits for biometric inverted image. External to the retina is the choroid, the
recognition. layer that lies between retina and sclera. The choroid is
primarily composed of a dense capillary plexus, as well
as small arteries and veins [5]. As it consists of numer-
Anatomy of the Human Eye ous blood vessels and thus contains many blood cells,
the choroid supplies most of the back of the eye with
The adult eyeball, often referred to as a spherical globe, necessary oxygen and nutrients. The sclera is
is only approximately spherical in shape, with its largest the external fibrous covering of the eye. The visible
diameter being 24 mm antero-posteriorly [2, 3]. portion of the sclera is commonly known as the
A schematic drawing of the human eye is shown in ‘‘white’’ of the eye.
Fig. 1. The anterior portion of the eye consists of the Both iris and retina are described in more detail in
cornea, iris, pupil, and crystalline lens. The pupil serves the following sections due to their major role in bio-
as an aperture which is adjusted by the surrounding metric applications.
12 A Anatomy of Eyes
folds, cause the notched appearance of the pupillary elements [2]; (2) Nerve fiber layer, which contains the
margin. axons of the ganglion cells. These nerve fibers are
All the features described above contribute to a bundled together and converge to the optic disc,
highly detailed iris pattern that varies from one where they leave the eye as the optic nerve. The cell
person to the next. Even in the same individual, bodies of the ganglion cells are situated in the (3)
right and left irides are different in texture. Besides ganglion cell layer. Numerous dendrites extend into
its uniqueness, the iris is a protected but readily the (4) inner plexiform layer where they form synapses
visible internal organ, and it is essentially stable over with interconnecting cells, whose cell bodies are locat-
time [7, 8]. Thus the iris pattern provides a suitable ed in the (5) inner nuclear layer; (6) Outer plexiform
physical trait to distinguish one person from another. layer, containing synaptic connections of photorecep-
The idea of using the iris for biometric identification tor cells; (7) Outer nuclear layer, where the cell bodies
was originally proposed by the ophthalmologist Burch of the photoreceptors are located; (8) External limiting
in 1936 [9]. However, it took several decades until two membrane, which is not a membrane in the proper
other ophthalmologists, Flom and Safir [7], patented sense, but rather comprises closely packed junctions
the general concept of iris-based recognition. In 1989, between photoreceptors and supporting cells. The
Daugman, a mathematician, developed efficient algo- photoreceptors reside in the (9) receptor layer. They
rithms for their system [8–10]. His mathematical for- comprise two types of receptors: rods and cones. In
mulation provides the basis for most iris scanners each human retina, there are 110–125 million rods and
now in use. Current iris recognition systems use infra- 6.3–6.8 million cones [2]. Light contacting the photo-
red-sensitive video cameras to acquire a digitized image receptors and thereby their light-sensitive photopig-
of the human eye with near-infrared illumination in the ments, are absorbed and transformed into electrical
700900 nm range. Then image analysis algorithms impulses that are conducted and further relayed to
extract and encode the iris features into a binary code the brain via the optic nerve; (10) Retinal pigment
which is stored as a template. Elastic deformations asso- epithelium, whose cells supply the photoreceptors
ciated with pupil size changes are compensated for with nutrients. The retinal pigment epithelial cells
mathematically. As pupil motion is limited to living contain granules of melanin pigment that enhance
irides, small distortions are even favorable by providing visual acuity by absorbing the light not captured by
a control against fraudulent artificial irides [8, 10]. the photoreceptor cells, thus reducing glare. The most
Imaging the iris with near-infrared light not only important task of the retinal pigment epithelium is to
greatly improves identification in individuals with very store and synthesize vitamin A, which is essential for
dark, highly pigmented irides, but also makes the system the production of the visual pigment [3]. The pigment
relatively immune to anomalous features related to epithelium rests on Bruch’s membrane, a basement
changes in pigmentation. For instance, melanomas/ membrane on the inner surface of the choroid.
tumors may develop on the iris and change its appearance. There are two areas of the human retina that are
Furthermore, some eye drops for glaucoma treatment structurally different from the remainder, namely the
may affect the pigmentation of the iris, leading to colora- ▶ fovea and the optic disc. The fovea is a small depres-
tion changes or pigment spots. However, as melanin is sion, about 1.5 mm across, at the center of the macula,
relatively transparent to near-infrared light and basically the central region of the retina [11]. There, the inner
invisible to monochromatic cameras employed by current layers are shifted aside, allowing light to pass unimpeded
techniques of iris recognition, none of these pigment- to the photoreceptors. Only tightly packed cones, and
related effects causes significant interference [9, 10]. no rods, are present at the foveola, the center of the
fovea. There are also more ganglion cells accumulated
around the foveal region than elsewhere. The fovea is
Retina the region of maximum visual acuity.
The optic disc is situated about 3 mm (15 degrees of
As seen in an ordinary histologic cross-section, the visual angle) to the nasal side of the macula [11]. It con-
retina is composed of distinct layers. The retinal layers tains no photoreceptors at all and hence is responsible
from the vitreous to choroid [2, 3] are: (1) Internal for the blind spot in the field of vision. Both choroidal
limiting membrane, formed by both retinal and vitreal capillaries and the central retinal artery and vein supply
Anatomy of Eyes A 15
the retina with blood. A typical fundus photo taken with pattern remains essentially unchanged throughout A
visible light of a healthy right human eye is illustrated in life, it can potentially be used for biometric identifica-
Fig. 3, showing the branches of the central artery and tion [12, 14].
vein as they diverge from the center of the disc. The Commercially available retina scans recognize the
veins are larger and darker in appearance than the blood vessels via their light absorption properties. The
arteries. The temporal branches of the blood vessels original Retina Scan used green light to scan the retina
arch toward and around the macula, seen as a darker in a circular pattern centered on the optic nerve head
area compared with the remainder of the fundus, [14]. Green light is strongly absorbed by the dark red
whereas the nasal vessels course radially from the blood vessels and is somewhat reflected by the retinal
nerve head. Typically, the central ▶ retinal blood ves- tissue, yielding high contrast between vessels and tis-
sels divide into two superior and inferior branches, sue. The amount of light reflected back from the retina
yielding four arterial and four venous branches that was detected, leading to a pattern of discontinuities,
emerge from the optic disc. However, this pattern with each discontinuity representing an absorbed spot
varies considerably [6]. So does the choroidal blood caused by an encountered blood vessel during the
vessel pattern, forming a matting behind the retina, circular scan. To overcome disadvantages caused by
which becomes visible when observed with light in the visible light, such as discomfort to the subject and
near-infrared range [12]. The blood vessels of the cho- pupillary constriction decreasing the signal intensity,
roid are even apparent in the foveal area, whereas subsequent devices employ near-infrared light instead.
retinal vessels rarely occur in this region. The generation of a consistent signal pattern for the
In the 1930s, Simon and Goldstein noted that same individual requires exactly the same alignment/
the blood vessel pattern is unique to every eye. They fixation of the individual’s eye every time the system is
suggested using a photograph of the retinal blood used. To avoid variability with head tilt, later designs
vessel pattern as a new scientific method of identifica- direct the scanning beam about the visual axis, there-
tion [13]. The uniqueness of the pattern mainly fore centered on the fovea, so that the captured vascu-
comprises the number of major vessels and their lar patterns are more immune to head tilt [12]. As
branching characteristics. The size of the optic disc mentioned before, the choroidal vasculature forms a
also varies across individuals. Because this unique matting behind the retina even in the region of the
macula and becomes detectable when illuminated with 14. Hill, R.B.: Apparatus and method for identifying individuals
through their retinal vasculature patterns, US Patent
near-infrared light. Nevertheless the requirement for
No. 4,109,237 Aug (1978)
steady and accurate fixation still remains a problem
15. Marshall, J., Usher, D.: Method for generating a unique and
because if the eye is not aligned exactly the same way consistent signal pattern for identification of an individual, US
each time it is measured, the identification pattern will Patent No. 6,757,409 Jun (2004)
vary. Reportedly a more recent procedure solves the
alignment issue [15]. Instead of using circular scanning
optics as in the prior art, the fundus is photographed,
the optic disc is located automatically in the obtained
retinal image, and an area of retina is analyzed in fixed
relationship to the optic disc. Anatomy of Face
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