The method for examining how well we can be able to see without the glasses has not changed a bit over a century.
An eye examination follows a basic principle i.e. read the letters from the chart that gradually shrink until you are not able to distinguish the letters or shapes any more. With the help of Monoyer chart or Snellen chart, ophthalmologists or optometrists can determine your clarity of vision.
Named after its inventor Ferdinand Monoyer, the Monoyer chart was established more than 100 years ago. It was the first eye care test used as a decimal system. 9th May, on what would be Ferdinand Monoyer’s 181st birthday, has been honoured for his exceptional work.
Who was Ferdinand Monoyer?
Born in 1836 in France, Ferdinand Monoyer pioneered the way we detect the refractive errors and correct the eye sight. He is best known for introducing Monoyer chart and creating the dioptre for measuring the visual clarity.
He established the dioptre, the unit used for the measurement of vision that is still used by ophthalmologists today. The dioptre is to measure the distance you would have to be from the text to read it. Monoyer designed an eye chart in such a way that it represents a different set of dioptre, ranging from smallest to largest.
Facts you need to know about eye care
- A human eye weighs around 28gm
- It is 2.5 cm wide and consists six muscles
- Eyes hardly grow since the birth
- Your eyes can only see the colour green, blue and red; they make all others from these three colours
- Eyes can spot approximately 50,000 shades of grey
- Your eyes need 48 hours to recover from a scratch
- There are more than 130 million rod and cone cells in your eyes
- The muscles that control your eye are the most active than other muscles
On this day, Pharmacy Outlet celebrates the life of Ferdinand Monoyer, the French ophthalmologist who invented dioptre and Monoyer chart for detecting the refractive errors and correcting the vision with the help of glasses.
