• Question: why cant we be born with fully black eyes

    Asked by anon-181139 on 4 Jun 2018. This question was also asked by anon-181143.
    • Photo: Alex Haragan

      Alex Haragan answered on 4 Jun 2018:

      The different parts of your eyes do different things. The black bit – the pupil – is actually just a gap that allows light in.
      So if you had a completely black eye you wouldn’t see anything!
      The White part (scelra) acts mostly as a protective shield and connects it physically to the rest of the body. On the very outside is a thin film called the cornea (that goes over the pupil hence why its not just an open hole into your head) that protects it. The coloured part – the iris – acts with eye muscles to allow the pupil to get bigger or smaller – so that you can let in more or less light depending on how bright or dark it is.
      If you have been to the opticians or doctors they may have used a special tool (called an ophthalmoscope) that allows you to look into the pupil and see the back of the eye (fundus). So the black part really is just a hole in your eye.
      Hope that makes sense!

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