The effect of crosslinking to elasticity of cornea with various composite solutions

Abstract

The elasticity of cornea was investigated with and without dextran content in the 0.1% Riboflavin solutions including salt and glucose, respectively. These five different solutions were studied for keratoconus treatment alternatively. The elasticity of the treated and untreated cornea was characterized by using compressive technique. The cornea can be modeled by the mass–spring–damping system. It is understood that the compressive elastic modulus of the cornea changes before and after treatment by the alternative solutions. The mechanical behavior of cornea likes composite anisotropic material due to the structure of cornea which consists of collagen fibrils. The sheep cornea was used as a pilot study before the application of treatment to human cornea. In the cornea, the nonlinear pressure deformation was observed as the behavior of elastomer materials. We found a significant increase in biomechanical rigidity after the cross-linking processes. The observed elasticity properties are consistent with the suggested values in the literature. This study is one of the alternative solutions studies for the treatment of corneal deformation illness after our spectroscopic and mechanical investigations.