Biomechanical model of the cornea for improved ophthalmic devices.

• Research unit: INNOSUISSE
• Project number: 9946.2;9 PFLS-LS

Short description (English)

Biomechanical model of the cornea for improved ophthalmic devices.

Abstract (English)

Cornea biomechanics plays a major role in ophthalmology. It is used for diagnosis of ocular diseases and planning of refractive surgery. During most of the modern refractive surgeries, a number of incisions are made in the cornea (thus changing its structure) in order to alter its refractive surface (radial keratotomy), insert an intra-ocular lens (in case of cataract) or open a flap to apply a laser treatment (LASIK). The goals of this project are to develop a biomechanical model of the cornea to improve current diagnosis devices and to enable the surgeon to define the appropriate values of the surgical parameters in order to get the best clinical results, i.e. optimize the geometric parameters such as depth and location of the incision, for each specific patient. A biomechanical model of the human cornea will be developed and implemented using the finite element method. Although the methods are generic, the model of the cornea will be applied to a specific refractive surgery and to improve existing tonometers used to diagnose glaucoma.