8/4/2019 eye facts

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Facts about vision and the eye can provide interesting information and make the best story even

more memorable. And this information adds to your credibility and to the patients appreciationof the importance of healthy sight counseling.

Some useful and fun facts:

The human eye blinks approximately 11,000 times per day which equals over 4,000,000times per year.

The eye is approximately the size of a ping pong ball that contains over two millionworking parts.

The average healthy 20 year-old eye allows up to three times more light than the average60 year-old.

During the course of the day as your eyes adjust to different types of lighting conditionsand focal distances, scientists estimate your eyes will expend the same amount of energy

that your leg muscles would expend if you walked 50 miles.

Light travels at 186,282 miles per second. That means in the snap of your fingers, it hasencircled the earth 7.5 times. When light enters your eye, your eye does three things with

the light. It changes the speed, direction and amount of light. Sometimes the eye needs help with the direction and the amount. When light enters ones eyes, it is focused to the back of the eye where over 130 million

photoreceptor cells convert the light and the image into electrical-chemical impulses that

are sent via the optic nerve to the brain to give us our perception of the world around us.

The conversion of that light into electrical-chemical impulses is one of the highestmetabolic activities in the human body.

An April 2007 USA survey asks consumers what is your greatest health fear as mostnegatively impacting your life style? Two responses tied for first- being paralyzed and

loss of vision.

Yet the average person sees their dentist three times more often than their eye careprofessional.

The eye and the brain which compose 2% of our total body weight consume 25% ofnutrition.

Over 50% of all Americans over age 65 develop a cataract. The odds of developing macular degeneration are 30% by age 75. In the USA today: an estimated 80 million people have potentially blinding eye disease. 3,000,000 have low vision. 1,100,000 are legally blind. 200,000 are severely visually handicapped.

In the year 2006, the first wave of 78 million baby-boomers turned 60. From that day until

2024 there will be one person turning 60 every 7 seconds .It is estimated 13-15 million baby boomers are primary care givers for elderly parents.