Sclera and conjunctiva

The sclera is a tough, leather-like, white tissue that extends all around the eye. Similar to an eggshell surrounding an egg and giving its shape, the sclera surrounds the eye and gives the eye its shape. The sclera is also attached to small muscles around the eye, which, in turn, move the eye left and right, up and down, and diagonally. When you look at yourself in the mirror the white part of your eye that you see is the front part of the sclera. Outside the sclera is a very thin transparent membrane, called the conjunctiva.