Enhancement of a mechanical eye model setup for IOL testing

Abstract

Cataract is the most common cause of blindness. The only way to treat it is the cataract surgery during which the affected crystalline lens is destroyed and removed from the eye and replaced with an implantable intraocular lens. After the cataract surgery, a displacement of the intraocular lens from its aligned position happens in some cases. The lenses may be of several designs and their properties are subject to regulatory standards. These standards, however, do not include testing of the postoperative displacement of the lens. For this purpose, an optomechanical eye model setup was previously developed to enable measuring of the wavefront aberrations of the intraocular lenses. As this setup does not perfectly mimic the physiology of the human eye and the manipulation with it may sometimes introduce unwanted errors, the objective of this thesis is to fight the above-mentioned imperfections and develop a new, enhanced eye model setup which will address these.Cataract is the most common cause of blindness. The only way to treat it is the cataract surgery during which the affected crystalline lens is destroyed and removed from the eye and replaced with an implantable intraocular lens. After the cataract surgery, a displacement of the intraocular lens from its aligned position happens in some cases. The lenses may be of several designs and their properties are subject to regulatory standards. These standards, however, do not include testing of the postoperative displacement of the lens. For this purpose, an optomechanical eye model setup was previously developed to enable measuring of the wavefront aberrations of the intraocular lenses. As this setup does not perfectly mimic the physiology of the human eye and the manipulation with it may sometimes introduce unwanted errors, the objective of this thesis is to fight the above-mentioned imperfections and develop a new, enhanced eye model setup which will address these.