![]() They become dependent on a special type of large contact lens that sits on the white of the eyes and vaults over their cone-shaped corneas, forming a new ocular surface with normalized optics. The effect changes the ocular surface shape from a smooth bowling ball to a traffic cone.Īs the weakened cornea thins centrally and bulges, the optics of the eye become distorted and patients develop blurred, distorted vision and lose the ability to see well even with glasses. The same is true with keratoconus-without the sturdy crosslinks, the lattice infrastructure of the cornea begins to buckle early in patients’ lives, sometimes as early as in their teens (depending on the severity of their genetically inherited condition) and the cornea begins to bulge outward. Without rebar reinforcement, concrete is brittle and easily shattered. In patients with keratoconus, for reasons that are not fully understood but likely have to do with a mix up in genetics, these crosslinks are missing. Soldiers in close-quarter combat may experience blast waves from explosions, boxers sustain multiple punches to the eye, jiu-jitsu practitioners endure eye gouges in competition bouts, and little kids with runny noses and allergies rub their eyes as hard as they can yet the cornea maintains its regular lattice structure and retains good vision. The high protein content of the cornea is maintained in a rigid lattice structure of parallel fibers cemented by extensive cross-linking, not unlike the rebar interconnects of reinforced concretes.įor most people, these crosslinks allow the cornea to endure significant trauma over the course of a lifetime without any lasting reduction to vision. By contrast, the rest of the human body (with the exception of bone) is 75% water and 25% everything else. ![]() It is 72% protein by weight which makes it the driest tissue in the human body. The structure of the cornea is remarkable. Located at the front of the eye, your cornea helps you see by focusing light as it enters through the eye. A healthy cornea resembles a clear, round dome.
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