Plexiglass also has a wonderful use in medicine, which is the manufacture of artificial corneas. If the transparent cornea of the human eye is covered with opaque material, the light cannot enter the eye. This is blindness caused by total corneal leukoplakia, and the disease cannot be treated with drugs.
Therefore, medical scientists envisage replacing the cornea with white spots with artificial cornea. The so-called artificial cornea is to use a transparent substance to make a mirror column with a diameter of only a few millimeters, then drill a small hole in the cornea of the human eye, fix the mirror column on the cornea, and the light enters the eye through the mirror column. The human eye can see the light again.
As early as 1771, an ophthalmologist used optical glass to make a mirror column and implanted the cornea, but it was not successful. Later, the use of crystal instead of optical glass failed only after half a year. In the Second World War, when some planes crashed, the cockpit cover made of plexiglass on the plane was blown up, and the pilot’s eyes were embedded with plexiglass fragments. After many years, although these fragments were not taken out, they did not cause inflammation or other adverse reactions in the human eye. This incident happened to indicate that plexiglass and human tissue have good compatibility. At the same time, it also inspired ophthalmologists to make artificial corneas with plexiglass. It has good light transmission, stable chemical properties, is non-toxic to human body, easy to process into the desired shape, and can be compatible with human eyes for a long time. Artificial corneas made of plexiglass have been commonly used in the clinic.
Post time: Apr-01-2017