A Fully Customizable Anatomically Correct Model of the Crystalline Lens

The human eye is a complex optical system comprised of many components. The crystalline lens, an optical component with a gradient index (GRIN), is perhaps the least understood as it is situated inside the eye and as a result is difficult to characterize. Its complex nonlinear structure is not easily measured and consequently not easily modeled. Presently several models of the GRIN structure exist describing the average performance of crystalline lenses. These models, however, do not accurately describe the performance of crystalline lenses on an individual basis and a more accurate individual eye model based on anatomical parameters is needed. This thesis proposes an anatomically correct, individually customizable crystalline lens model. This is an important tool and is needed both for research on the optical properties of human eyes and to diagnose and plan the treatment of optically based visual problems, such as refractive surgery planning. The lens model consisted of an interior GRIN with a constant refractive index core. The anterior and posterior surface was described by conic sections. To realize this eye model, the optical and biometric properties of mammalian lenses were measured and the correlation relationships between these measurements were used to simplify the model down to one fitting parameter which controls the shape of the GRIN. Using this data, an anatomically correct individualizable model of the lens was successfully realized with varying parameters unique to each lens. Using this customizable lens model, customizable human eye models based on measurements of the entire human eye can be realized