3D Printable, Modified Trephine Designs for Consistent Anterior Lamellar Keratectomy Wounds in Rabbits.

Purpose: Our goal is to develop a low-cost tool that can be used to create consistent, partial-thickness defects in rabbit and other large animals with minimal surgical training and that can facilitate pre-clinical testing of lamellar and in situ-forming biosynthetic matrix materials for corneal repair.

Materials & Methods: In this study, three modified trephines were designed to create deep corneal wound defects with consistent depth in large animals. The modified trephines incorporated either 3D-printed parts made from photopolymerizable resins, or custom-cut commercially available Teflon sheets.