Did you know?

Did you know...

The retina has a dual blood supply system:

• The choroid supplies the inner retinal layers, including the photoreceptors. It lies behind the retina, and is made up of tiny blood vessels.

  
  

  

  Anand-Apte, B., & Hollyfield, J.G. (2010). Developmental Anatomy of the Retinal and Choroidal Vasculature.

  
  

• The central retinal artery supplies blood to the outer retinal layers, which include the cells that the photoreceptors send signals to. The artery enters the eye through a single place, like a tree trunk, then splits into smaller blood vessels that look like the branches of a tree. Most people have a foveal avascular zone, meaning that there are no blood vessels at the very centre of the retina.

  
  

  Fun fact: there are no photoreceptors where the artery enters the eye – this is called the “blind spot”, because you can’t see anything here! Most of the time we don’t notice this, because the brain “fills in” the missing information!

An en face image of the retina taken using the Imagine Eyes rtx1 adaptive optics imaging system. The optic disc, where the central retina artery enters the eye (i.e. "blind spot") is to the left of the image.

Watch this video to “see” your blind spot!

Cover your left eye and keep looking at the red cross. As the checkered circle moves across the screen, it will pass in and out of your blind spot!

If the circle does not "disappear", you may need to move closer or make your screen larger.