Corneal opacity is a leading cause of blindness worldwide. Corneal transplantation and keratoprosthesis can restore vision but have limitations due to the shortage of donor corneas and complications due to infection. A proposed alternative treatment using an intraocular projection prosthesis device can treat corneal disease. In this study, we perform a transient thermal analysis of the bionic eye model to determine the power the device can produce without elevating the eye tissue temperature above the 2°C limit imposed by the international standard for implantable devices. A 3D finite element model, including blood perfusion and natural convection fluid flow of the eye, was created. The device was placed 1.95 mm from the iris, which experienced less than 2°C rise in the tissue temperature at a maximum power dissipation of LED at 100 mW and microdisplay at 25 mW.
Keywords: bioheat transfer; corneal prosthesis; finite element analysis; natural convection; thermal eye model.