Usage of laser induced bubbles for measuring intraocular eye pressure

Abstract

There are different methods of measuring intraocular pressure in clinics, but those methods fail to measure intraocular pressure under certain conditions. Most common problem of these methods are that they are inapplicable to patients who had eye surgery. In this study laser induced bubble characteristics are investigated in order to develop a new method to measure intraocular eye pressure with lasers. For this purpose, first, intraocular environment is imitated to perform laser experiments. Then imaging system is developed to digitally visualize laser induced bubbles that are created in intraocularlike environment. Digital image processing algorithms were developed to detect and measure bubble features. Different fluid pressure levels were configured to investigate the pressure effect on laser induced bubbles. Results showed that volume of laser induced bubbles are higher in lower fluid pressure and bubble volume decrease with the increased fluid pressure. In light of these findings, it can be concluded that the change in volume can be used to estimate fluid pressure. Thus, this study proposes a new technique for measuring intraocular pressure by using volume feature of laser induced bubbles that are created in the anterior chamber of the eye.