While the retina is supplied from one side by the choroid, there are also blood vessels located directly on the back of the eye—the retina.
This network of vessels originates from the central artery (arteriole), which exits directly from the optic nerve, and it covers the entire retina. The more branched these vascular branches become, the smaller the diameter of the individual vessels.
These particularly small vessels are the so-called capillaries—their diameter is so small that blood cells deform as they flow through them. Because the main vessel of this branched network has no connection to other arteries, the blood vessels in the eye are particularly sensitive to metabolic disorders or high blood pressure.
For this reason, it is important, for example in cases of high blood pressure and diabetes, to attend regular preventive eye examinations with an ophthalmologist.