title: Theoretical principles of optical pachometry.
abstract: Various configurations have been suggested for the optical measurement of corneal thickness by slit beam doubling, and corresponding ray traces have been provided to relate actual thickness to apparent thickness. In this report, a set of equations is provided which apply to the general situation in which neither the angle of illumination nor the angle of observation are aligned with or symmetrical about the normal to the cornea. An explicit solution to these equations giving true corneal thickness in terms of apparent thickness cannot be established, and an iterative procedure is used to develop a relationship for a number of different pachometer configurations. The near linearity of these relationships suggests the existence of a simple equation to relate these entities. By making appropriate assumptions, a linear approximation relating the inverse of the true thickness to the inverse of the apparent thickness is developed. An equation for determining the location of measurements of peripheral corneal thickness is also derived. The equations presented here may be generally applied to all optical pachometer configurations, can be used to estimate the relative contributions of various sources of error in pachometry and provide a basis for obtaining uniform absolute derivations of corneal thickness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Optometry, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Brennan
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Macdonald
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Bruce
mesh_terms: D003315:Cornea / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008433:Mathematics; D008962:Models, Theoretical