Hypoxia induced corneal swelling was observed and evaluated in healthy human volunteers by use of high speed, ultrahigh resolution optical coherence tomography (UHROCT). Two dimensional corneal images were acquired at a speed of 47,000 A-scans/s with 3µm x 10µm (axial x lateral) resolution in corneal tissue. The UHROCT tomograms showed clear visualization of all corneal layers, including the Bowman's layer and the Descemet's membrane - Endothelium complex. A segmentation algorithm was developed and used for automatic detection of the boundaries of the different corneal layers and evaluation the individual layer thickness as a function of location. Corneal hypoxia was induced by wear of a soft contact lens (SCL) and an eye patch by 2 healthy volunteers for duration of 3 hours. The thickness of all corneal layers was measured as a function of time, prior to, with and after removal of the SCL. Results from the hypoxia study showed different rates of swelling and de-swelling of the individual corneal layers. About 10% increase in the total cornea thickness was observed, similar to the changes in the stroma, the Bowman's membrane swelled by 20%, while no significant change in the thickness was observed in the Descemet's - Endothelium complex.

Date Published: 23 February 2009
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 7163, Ophthalmic Technologies XIX, 71631G (23 February 2009); doi: 10.1117/12.809431

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7163:
Ophthalmic Technologies XIX
Fabrice Manns; Per G. Söderberg; Arthur Ho, Editor(s)