Scientists discover an entirely new human body part… in the eye

Meet Dua's layer. It's just 15 microns thick

The human eye
(Image credit: Thinkstock/iStockphoto)

Harminder Dua, a professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Nottingham, has discovered a tiny, previously unknown body part hidden in the human eye. He named it after himself — Dua's layer — and detailed the revelation in the journal Ophthalmology.

Sitting at the back of the cornea — the transparent front part of the eye that helps refract light — Dua's layer is "skinny but tough," and just 15 microns thick, says LiveScience. (25,000 microns is approximately an inch.) Researchers found Dua's layer by using jets of air bubbles to gently separate the corneal layers in donated eyes, scanning each layer individually under an electron microscope.

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"This is a major discovery that will mean that ophthalmology textbooks will literally need to be re-written," says Dua. "From a clinical perspective, there are many diseases that affect the back of the cornea which clinicians across the world are already beginning to relate to the presence, absence or tear in this layer."

Popular Science notes that knowledge of the new layer "could dramatically improve outcomes for patients undergoing corneal grafts and transplants." Because when you're gently knifing into the eyeball with a scalpel, it's probably a good idea to know exactly what you're cutting into.

Chris Gayomali is the science and technology editor for TheWeek.com. Previously, he was a tech reporter at TIME. His work has also appeared in Men's Journal, Esquire, and The Atlantic, among other places. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.