The Most Important Part of the Eye

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The Fovea Gives Us

 20/20 Vision

The fovea (officially termed fovea centralis) is a central pit in the center of the macula (central retina). The fovea is the part of the eye that provides the clearest vision, i.e. 20/20 or 20/15 visual acuity that is needed for reading, driving and virtually all of life’s daily tasks.  When an eye focuses directly on an object, the object is focused on the fovea of the eye.  Visual acuity decreases as images are viewed farther away from the fovea-the farther from the fovea, the worse the visual acuity.  That is why we must shift our gaze when reading or when viewing a large area - to keep it in maximum focus.  The fovea only sees the central two degrees of the entire visual field, but without the fovea visual acuity is greatly reduced.

The fovea is less than 1 mm in diameter and consists almost entirely of photoreceptors (neurons) called cones.  The cone receptors are very dense in the fovea and decrease in density outside the fovea.  Visual acuity potential is significantly greater at the fovea because of the greater density of cones in the fovea.  The other types of photoreceptor, rods, increase in density outside the fovea and are almost non-existent in the fovea.  The rods are responsible for night vision, peripheral vision and sensitive motion detection.  The high spatial density of cones in the fovea accounts for the high visual acuity capability of the fovea.  The fovea is responsible for most of the color vision in humans as well as the clearest vision. 

There are no retinal blood vessels in the fovea so nourishment of the fovea comes from the underlying layer of the eye called the choroid.  Blood vessels in the fovea would block light from striking the cones in the fovea, which would reduce the maximum vision of the human eye.

The human eye is an incredibly complex delicate structure with all components of the eye performing very complex integrated functions creating our valued sense of sight.  However, without a proper functioning fovea we all would have blurred vision and poor color vision as well.  For those reasons many would agree that the fovea is the most important part of the human eye.

It goes without saying that you should take care of your fovea and macular area of your eye.  Learn about the two nutritional supplements that the body does not produce that are responsible for the health of the fovea.  These powerful antioxidants accumulate 1,000 times higher in the fovea than in other body tissues and are absolutely essential for fovea health!

Buy the nutrition supplements in the proper ratios and concentrations to protect your fovea and macula.