• Question: when you look closely in to youre eyes or others eyes why does it look like off mushrooms?

    Asked by pp2g to Laura, Lily, Mark, Paul, Sarah on 15 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Laura Maliszewski

      Laura Maliszewski answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      When you are a tiny baby, the membrane of your iris, the colored part of your eyes, is all one piece like a thin circle of silk.

      When your eyes grow, the membrane doesn’t so it tears. What you see as being like the ribs of a mushroom is the torn fabric of your iris and the stuff underneath showing through.

      ETA: I looked it up and that stuff that makes up the iris is called stroma, it’s bundles of fibers and nerves. Someone at a scientific talk mentioned about the tearing thing but I can’t find it confirmed anywhere, I’ll have to find a friend’s baby and see if it’s eyes don’t look all mushroomy.

    • Photo: Mark Roberts

      Mark Roberts answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      I guess because what you can see are your cells in the retina and they look like that – but I think Laura’s answer is much better

    • Photo: Lily Asquith

      Lily Asquith answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      I think the iris looks that way because it is made of muscle. The black bit (the pupil) in the middle is a hole, and the iris has to close and open the hole depending on how bright it is. If you shine a light into your eye the pupil contracts (the hole gets smaller) because it doesn’t want to let too much light in.

    • Photo: Sarah Bardsley

      Sarah Bardsley answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      My boyfriend and I have been testing your theory and have produced negative results.

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