title: Use and Misuse of Laplace's Law in Ophthalmology.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Laplace's Law, with its compactness and simplicity, has long been employed in ophthalmology for describing the mechanics of the corneoscleral shell. We questioned the appropriateness of Laplace's Law for computing wall stress in the eye considering the advances in knowledge of ocular biomechanics.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this manuscript we recapitulate the formulation of Laplace's Law, as well as common interpretations and uses in ophthalmology. Using numerical modeling, we study how Laplace's Law cannot account for important characteristics of the eye, such as variations in globe shape and size or tissue thickness, anisotropy, viscoelasticity, or that the eye is a living, dynamic organ.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We show that accounting for various geometrical and material factors, excluded from Laplace's Law, can alter estimates of corneoscleral wall stress as much as 456% and, therefore, that Laplace's Law is unreliable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude by illustrating how computational techniques, such as finite element modeling, can account for the factors mentioned above, and are thus more suitable tools to provide quantitative characterization of corneoscleral biomechanics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Cheuk Wang
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 2Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore.
authors.forename: Michaël J A
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Girard
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States 4Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
authors.forename: Ning-Jiun
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Jan
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States 4Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
authors.forename: Ian A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Sigal
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics / Q000379:methods*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009799:Ocular Physiological Phenomena; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000379:methods*