vitreous humor
Noun: 1. The clear, gel-like substance filling the space between the lens and the retina of the eye: The vitreous humor is a transparent, colorless, jelly-like material that maintains the eye's spherical shape and helps transmit light to the retina.
The term "vitreous humor" is used specifically in anatomical and medical contexts to refer to the internal gel of the eyeball. It is a technical term. * It is typically used with the definite article "the" (e.g., the vitreous humor). * It functions as a singular, uncountable noun.
- Medical Description: "The vitreous humor helps maintain the eye's shape and optical properties."
- Symptom Explanation: "Floaters are tiny shadows cast on the retina by clumps in the vitreous humor."
- Surgical Context: "During the procedure, the surgeon removed the cloudy vitreous humor and replaced it with a saline solution."
- "Vitreous detachment": A common, usually age-related condition where the vitreous humor shrinks and pulls away from the retina.
- A posterior vitreous detachment can cause the sudden appearance of floaters.
- Vitreous body: A synonymous term for the vitreous humor.
- Vitreous (adjective): Of, relating to, or resembling glass. In eye anatomy, it is used to describe structures or the humor itself (e.g., vitreous gel, vitreous cavity).
- Aqueous humor: The clear, watery fluid in the front part of the eye (between the cornea and the lens), distinct from the vitreous humor in the rear chamber.
- Vitreous body
- Vitreous gel
The word "vitreous" alone is an adjective meaning glass-like. The specific term "vitreous humor" has only one primary meaning in modern English: the ocular gel. The archaic term "humor" referred to a body fluid in medieval physiology.
- the clear colorless transparent jelly that fills the posterior chamber of the eyeball