Fluid mechanics of the descemet's membrane detachment with spontaneous reattachment

Abstract

Descemet membrane detachment (DMD) often happen during catatact surgery. DMD is developed when the membrane separate from the stroma. The separation occur,is due to the flow of aqueous humour (AH) from the aqueous chamber into the descrement membrance (DM) space through a break. A mathematical model of buoyancy driven AH flow is developed to explain the mechanisms of the fluid. The exisiing of temperature different between the comea and the pupil will drive the fluid to flow due to tuoyancy force. The effect of the fluid flow to the deformation of the detach membrane is analyzed. The phenomena of spontaneous reattachment of the DMD will be studied. Numerically, the relevant variables will be computed using finite element method with the aiding of COMSOL Multiphysics. The results have shown that the flowing of AH affect the displacement of the detach membrane and the spontaneous reattachment may indeed occur under certain conditions.