The Human Brain and Ophthalmology
To treat Ophthalmology illnesses, it is necessary to know everything there is to know about the brain. Our brains are very complex and even the fastest super computer pales in comparison to the effectiveness and the efficiency of our brains. Ophthalmology is that branch of medicine that deals with the diseases and surgery of visual pathways which includes the eye itself, the eyelids, and areas surrounding the eye such as the lacrimal system and eyelids. However, the term ophthalmologist is usually used for those who specialize in the eye, solving both surgical and medical problems. The retina is a piece of a person’s brain that grows into the eye and its main function is processing neural signals whenever it detects light. The information is carried from this retina to a person’s brain through ganglion cells. The nerve cells in the retina do analysis of information that comes into the eye. It is clear from this fact that a person’s brain and the eye are closely related and so any illness affecting a person’s brain can have effects on the eye.
Ganglion cells are simply small multi-electrode arrays and it is estimated a normal retina transmits data at roughly 10 million bps (bits per second). This is very impressive because Ethernet transmits information with speeds ranging anywhere from 10 to 100 million bps. There are between 10 and 15 ganglion cell types in a normal retina for picking different movements. Affecting any of these ganglion cells through injury or sickness means the view will be distorted and in extreme cases, the eye will not be able to send an image that a person’s brain can understand. Brain damage means the signal will not get to a person’s brain.
Ophthalmology started a long time ago because the human eye, meaning its structure and mechanism, has always fascinated those in the medical practice. This is because most of what is input in human brain comes from what we see. For this reason, understanding the brain is the key to understanding the eye and those in the field of ophthalmology should do all they can.
From information that scientists have gathered about the human brain, ophthalmologists have been able to treat eye problems by treating the mental cases – this has eliminated the need for dangerous surgeries that had previously been done to look for problems inside the eye and the need for medication that only treated the symptoms and not the cause of the eye problem.
It is clear that the eye and a person’s brain are closely related. This is the reason when someone has an injured eye or any such condition in the eye, he/she will have a headache. It is therefore important for those in the field of ophthalmology to study the brain in more detail because a lot is still unknown.