ABSTRACT

Injury to the eye can be a serious threat to vision if not treated immediately or appropriately. Blunt impact is a main cause of eye injuries, which usually occur in young people. Experimental impacts to the eye by a standardized projectile have been considered an accepted method to study blunt ocular trauma. However, in vivo high-speed imaging of the interior ocular structures is difficult to obtain experimentally. As an alternative method, finite element simulation can provide visualization of the dynamic response of the interior structures, as well as quantitative analysis. Previous studies have confirmed that the finite element method is an effective tool to analyze various ocular injuries in different blunt impact situations. In this chapter, a finite element model of the human eye is introduced. Modeling methods, including the geometric structure of a human eye, material properties of ocular tissues, meshing technology, and boundary conditions, are described in detail. Traumatic retinal detachment following blunt impact was simulated. Dynamic responses including stress wave propagation in the eye and resulting detachment are discussed in this chapter.