Blink

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For other uses, see Blink (disambiguation).

Blinking eye

Blinking is the opening and closing of the eyelid. It is an essential function of the eye that helps spread tears across, and remove irritants from, the surface of the cornea and conjunctiva. Each blink typically takes between 100 and 150 milliseconds from start to finish^{[citation needed]}.

Women and men do not differ in their rates of spontaneous blinking (M.J. Doughty, 2002, Optom Vis Sci), averaging around 10 blinks per minute in a laboratory setting. When an animal (usually human) chooses to blink only one eye as a signal to another in a social setting (a form of body language), it is known as winking.

Interestingly, some animals (for instance, tortoises) blink their eyes independently of each other.

[edit] See also

• Corneal reflex