Laser Effect on a Pathologically Altered Capsule of the Lens of the Eye

Abstract

One of the current areas of application of lasers in ophthalmology is cataract surgery and reducing the number of negative reactions to surgical intervention. In the postoperative period, clouding of the lens capsular bag and the risk of contraction capsular syndrome associated with changes in the biomechanical properties of the lens and capsular bag system are often observed. In the work, the biomechanics of such system were studied. Lenses that were placed in a 10% formalin solution to create cataract-simulating opacity for various amounts of time were studied by optical-coherent tomography, speckle-interferometry method and with fiber-optics setup for scattering dynamics registration. It was shown that speckle interferometry technique is sensitive to structural changes of lenses due to formalin exposure, which makes tissue more elastic and less transparent. OCT shows the same result and is more sensitive to the changes of laser wavelength. In addition, theoretical studies were carried out and have shown that changing laser wavelength can be dangerous for the integrity of the capsule film during medical intervention due to increase of maximum thermal stress.