title: The optics of vitreous surgery.
abstract: We calculated the refractive power of the human eye in the various optical configurations that may occur during vitreous surgery. We found that a biconcave corneal contact lens with an anterior surface refractive power of -63 to -98 diopters allowed the fundus to be seen when the vitreous cavity was filled with air, as did a weak minus lens attached to the bottom of the operating microscope. Our tests showed that the unsymmetrical biconcave lenses were superior.
mesh_terms: D003261:Contact Lenses; D006801:Humans; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D012029:Refraction, Ocular; D012031:Refractometry; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000601:surgery*