A boundary element model of the human eye undergoing laser thermokeratoplasty.

ABSTRACT

In the present paper, a three-dimensional radially symmetric boundary element model of the human eye is proposed for simulating changes in corneal temperature during treatment of laser thermokeratoplasty. Energy absorption inside the cornea is modeled using the Beer-Lambert law. Heat transfer inside the eye is assumed to be governed by the classical heat diffusion equation. The resulting initial-boundary value problem is solved numerically using a time-stepping boundary element method. The temperature field is calculated for heating by both the pulsed laser and the continuous wave laser. The results obtained are compared with those from other models found in the literature.