Stratum Opticum
The Stratum Opticum, which is also known as the "Layer of Nerve-Fibres", is the second (2nd) of the layers forming the retina of the human eye.
Recall that light from outside the human body enters the eye through its main structures of the cornea, aqueous humour, pupil, lens, etc. and is normally focussed onto the retina of the eye.
The retina is composed of several layers which, together, form the "screen" in the eye onto which an image of the area viewed by the eye is formed, and information about that image is segmented into packets of information that are passed to the visual cortex of the brain via the optic nerve.
The stratum opticum is formed from the extension of
the optic
nerve - which extends from this second layer of the retina, through
the other layers to the back of the retina, from where it leaves the eye
at the fovea and continues, eventually, to the visual cortex brain.
The stratum opticum is thickest around the optic disc (also known as the optic papilla), and gradually becomes thinner towards the "ora serrata" - which is the edge of the retina closest to the front of the eye, at which the retina ends in the form of a jagged margin before the most posterior area to which the ciliary body is attached.
For more information about related subjects see:
- Structure of the human eye
- Structure of the human retina
- What is ophthalmology?
- List of disorders of the human eye
- List of ophthalmic procedures
- Textbooks about ophthalmology
