Flattening of central corneal curvature with intrastromal corneal rings of increasing thickness: an eye-bank eye study.

Intrastromal Corneal Rings (ICRs) have been demonstrated to flatten human corneas when implanted into peripheral intrastromal corneal channels. To study the flattening effect, ICRs of increasing thickness, 0.26, 0.31, 0.36, 0.41, and 0.46 mm, were placed into oversized (approximately 70% depth) intrastromal channels in 38 eye-bank eyes. Each of 33 eyes received one ICR; the mean change in dioptric data was obtained for four meridians using an intraoperative photokeratoscope. Intrastromal corneal rings of increasing thickness resulted in corneal flattening of 3.8 +/- 1.1, 4.9 +/- 0.6, 5.2 +/- 1.1, 5.3 +/- 1.9, and 7.3 +/- 1.6 diopters, respectively, for keratoscope mire 2. One of each size ICR was placed into one of five additional eye-bank eyes; the degree of flattening measured by laser holographic interferometry was 1.8, 2.9, 5.5, 4.7, and 10.1 diopters, respectively, for the central 6 mm corneal zone. These results indicate that the ICR provides a fairly linear flattening relationship over the range of thicknesses tested. Additionally, laser holographic interferometry wave unit maps of preoperative and postoperative corneas demonstrated that the ICR tends to preserve positive corneal asphericity if present preoperatively.

Effects of intrastromal corneal ring size and thickness on corneal flattening in human eyes.

Intrastromal corneal rings can flatten the human cornea, providing a potential new method of keratorefractive surgery. We investigated the effect of implanting various ring sizes of a given thickness in 8.50-mm intrastromal channels dissected in human eye bank corneas. A new intraoperative corneal topography device was used to obtain serial data. Smaller rings with no expansion pressure on the channels were found to induce corneal flattening presumably due to the ring thickness alone. Rings of increasing diameters produced high degrees of corneal flattening at progressively declining rates; this suggests that shear stresses may have expanded the channel due to mechanical stresses placed by our particular experimental technique. Implantation techniques that minimize stress on the outer channel lamellae appear advisable. New ring designs should take ring thickness into consideration along with outer edge configurations that minimize shear stresses on the lamellar channels.