Computational modeling of mechanical anisotropy in the cornea and sclera.

Purpose: To determine the biomechanical deformation of the cornea resulting from tissue cutting and removal by use of a new computational model and to investigate the effect of mechanical anisotrophy resulting from the fibrillar architecture.

Setting: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.

Methods: A mathematical model for a typical lamella that explicitly accounts for the strain energy of the collagen fibrils, extrafibrillar matrix, and proteoglycan cross-linking was developed.