Your eyes are relatively small parts of your body, but they’re immensely complex. Your eyes are full of dozens of different parts, all of which work together to produce your vision. One of the most important parts within the eye is the retina.

The retina is the layer of cells positioned at the back of your eyeball. This layer senses the light that comes into your eyeball and sends signals to your brain.

The key retina parts include the rods and cones, which convert light into electrical signals for the brain, and the macula, which allows you to see details clearly.

The job of the retina is to capture light that comes through the eye and change that light into an electrical signal that your brain interprets as an image.

Proper retina function depends on each part of the retina doing its job. 

Macula. The macula is in charge of seeing the fine details of the objects directly in front of you. This may include things like facial details, text on a book or page, and differences between colors.

Photoreceptors. Photoreceptor cells are the specific cells within the retina that convert light into signals for the brain to interpret. You have two types of photoreceptor cells: rods and cones. Rods are very sensitive to light, giving you your night vision. Rods are also responsible for peripheral vision and allow you to see black and white.  

Cones are responsible for giving us our color vision. They’re concentrated in the macula. Human eyes have three types of cone cells: red-sensing cone cells, green-sensing cone cells, and blue-sensing cone cells. 60% of your cones are red-sensing, 30% are green-sensing, and the remaining 10% are blue-sensing.

The retina is made up of layers upon layers of cells.

The retina structure consists of ten separate layers. Listed from the innermost layer to the outermost layer, these layers are:

The retina is located at the back of the eyeball.

Your eyeball has many, many parts. For simplicity, we’ll break it into three segments: the surface of the eye, the front of the eye, and the back of the eye.

The surface of the eye. The role of the surface of your eye is to protect the front of your eye and keep it healthy. The eye surface consists of:

The Front of the Eye. The front of the eye lets light in and focuses that light. It includes the:

The back of the eye. The back of the eye is where the retina sits. Other parts of the back of the eye include the:

Many conditions can affect the retina, making it difficult to see properly. These include conditions such as:

If you suspect you’ve sustained a retinal injury or are having an issue with your retina, see your doctor right away. Some conditions are curable if treated early.

American Academy of Ophthalmology: “Aqueous Humor,” “Cones,” “Eye Anatomy: Parts of the Eye and How We See,” “Macula,” “Photoreceptors,” “Rods,” “What Is Color Blindness?” “What Is Retinitis Pigmentosa?”

Developmental Dynamics: “Development of astrocytes in the vertebrate eye.”

Discovery Eye Foundation: “Layers of the Retina.”

GLIA: “New functions of Müller cells.”

Nguyen, K., Patel, B., Tadi, P. StatPearls, “Anatomy, Head and Neck, Eye Retina,” StatPearls Publishing, 2021.

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