Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-2009

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Physics

Major Professor

James W. L. Lewis

Committee Members

Ying-Ling Chen, Horace W. Crater, Christian Parigger, Ming Wang

Abstract

The objectives of this dissertation are to advance and broaden the traditional average eye modeling technique by two extensions: 1) population-based and personalized eye modeling for both normal and diseased conditions, and 2) demonstration of applications of this pioneering eye modeling.The first type of representative eye modeling can be established using traditional eye modeling techniques with statistical biometric information of the targeted population. Ocular biometry parameters can be mathematically assigned according to the distribution functions and correlations between parameters. For example, the axial dimension of the eye relates to age, gender, and body height factors. With the investigation results from the studies of different population groups, population-based eye modeling can be established. The second type of eye model includes the optical components of the detailed corneal structure. Many of these structures, especially the corneal topography and wavefront aberration, are measured directly from the human eye. Therefore, the personalized eye models render the exact clinical measure and optical performance of the eye. In a sense, the whole eye, other than the identity of the individual, is quantified and stored in digital form for unlimited use for future research and industrial applications.

The presentation of this dissertation is: Chapter 1 describes the background of the research in this area, the introduction of eye anatomy, and the motivation of this dissertation work.

In Chapter 2, a comprehensive review of the contemporary techniques of measuring ocular parameters is presented and is followed by the review of literature and then the statistical analysis of the ocular biometry parameters. The goal of this chapter is to build a statistical base for population-based schematic eye modeling research. The analysis includes the investigation of the correlations between ocular parameters and ocular refraction, subject age, gender, ethnicity, and accommodation conditions.

In Chapter 3, the tools and methods that are used in our optical eye modeling are introduced. The operation of the optical program ZEMAX is discussed. The detail of the optical eye modeling procedure and method of optical optimization, which is utilized to reproduce desired clinical measurement results, are described. The validation functions, which will be used to evaluate the optimization results, are also addressed.

Chapter 4 includes the discussion of the population-based eye modeling and the personalized eye modeling. With the statistical information and the clinical measurements presented in Chapter 2 and the computation method described in Chapter 3, the two types of eye modeling technologies are demonstrated. The procedure, difficulty, and validation of eye modeling are included. The considerations of optical opacities, irregular optical surface, multiple reflection, scattering, and tear film breakup effects are discussed and the possible solutions in ZEMAX are suggested.

Chapter 5 presents eye modeling applications of the simulations of ophthalmic instrument measurements. The demonstrated simulation results are retinoscopy and photorefraction. The simulation includes both normal eye model and diseased eye model. The close conformity between the simulation results with the actual clinical measurements further validates the eye modeling technique. The ophthalmic simulation application provides the potential for medical training and instrument development.

The summary of the dissertation is given in Chapter 6.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS