Abstract
The cornea is the transparent tissue at the front of the eye that refracts light on to the retina. Devices can be implanted into the cornea to correct refractive errors (corneal inlay, corneal onlay, intracorneal rings) or to replace damaged and diseased corneal tissue to restore vision (keratoprosthesis, shields). Synthetic materials used in these devices present a challenging set of requirements necessitating an understanding of the tissue, impact of surgery and wound-healing processes, material science and optical design. This chapter considers the history of corneal implants, currently available technologies and future developments using synthetic material as implantable devices and scaffolds in the cornea to improve vision.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine in Ophthalmology |
| Editors | Traian Chirila |
| Place of Publication | U.S. |
| Publisher | CRC Press |
| Pages | 65-133 |
| Number of pages | 69 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781845697433 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781845694432 |
| Publication status | Published - 2010 |
Keywords
- artificial corneas