The Human Eye: How Our Vision Develops, and Disorders that Affect Our Visual Development

A talk and public discussion by Dr. Craig A. McKeown
Friday, October 3rd at 8:00 p.m. in the Museum Space Gallery

Our view of the world around us is made up of multiple components, including the perception of color, movement, form (central vision), 3-D perception (binocular vision) and other constituents. However, the human visual system is immature at birth. Infants are born with only limited eye movement capabilities, as well as poor visual acuity, reduced color perception, and little binocular vision.

Visual development requires visual stimulation, with various components of our vision maturing in a critically timed and carefully orchestrated sequence of developmental events.

In addition, there is a natural competition between the right and left eye for representation in the visual portion of the brain.

Childhood abnormalities that affect visual development include amblyopia (poor visual acuity from abnormal development of the visual portion of the brain), strabismus (misalignment of the eyes), leukocoria (white pupil) and other disorders.

Abnormalities that affect early visual development can have a negative impact on subsequent developmental events, and can permanently affect our ultimate visual capabilities.



About Dr. McKeown

Dr. Craig McKeown is a specialist in pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He is a graduate of the six-year honors program in medical education at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. He was an ophthalmology resident at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and pursued fellowship training in Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus at the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Washington, D.C. as well as at the Wilmer Eye Institute at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. His interests include visual development in children, as well as the detection and treatment of pediatric eye disorders that adversely affect visual development, including amblyopia and strabismus.


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