The Investigation of Corneal Biomechanics Through the Changes in the Intraocular Pressure

The preliminary theoretical study in which the corneal geometry at different intraocular pressure (IOP) levels is investigated using a theoretical biomechanical cornea model found changes in both conventional refractive error (sphere and cylinder) and irregular astigmatism i.e. higher order aberrations (e.g. spherical aberration, trefoil and quadrafoil). This is due to the mechanical characteristics of the cornea determined largely by interaction between collagen fibrils organization and extrafibrillar matrix material properties. Corneal geometry and the material properties are the two main factors that contribute to the changes in corneal aberrations with IOP elevation. These aberration changes due to the variation of IOP and the material properties of the cornea can be measured routinely with corneal topography systems (UR) and Brillouin ocular scanner (MGH), respectively and can guide the investigators to study their impact on optical and biomechanical behaviors of the cornea.