Cornea

The cornea is the transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber, providing most of an eye's optical power. Together with the lens, the cornea refracts light and, as a result, helps the eye to focus. The cornea contributes more to the total refraction than the lens does, but, whereas the curvature of the lens can be adjusted to "tune" the focus, the curvature of the cornea is fixed.

The cornea has nerve endings sensitive to touch, temperature and chemicals; a touch of the cornea causes an involuntary reflex to close the eyelid. Because transparency is of prime importance the cornea does not have blood vessels; it receives nutrients via diffusion from the tear fluid at the outside and the aqueous humour at the inside and also from neurotrophins supplied by nerve fibres that innervate it. In humans, the cornea has a diameter of about 12 mm and a thickness of 0.5 mm - 0.7 mm in the center and 1.0 mm - 1.2 mm at the periphery. Transparency, avascularity, and immunologic privilege makes the cornea a very special tissue.

In humans, the refractive power of the cornea is approximately 45 dioptres, roughly three-fourths of the eye's total power.