Abstract: We investigate the use of in-vitro corneal equivalents as a replacement model for in-vivo rabbit corneas used in laser damage threshold studies. In-vitro corneal equivalents (CE) were exposed to 0.8 millisecond (ms), 1540 nanometer (nm) single laser light pulses ranging from 124 J/cm$+2$/ to 58 J/cm$+2$/. After exposure, CE's were evaluated opthalmoscopcopically, imaged using confocal microscopy and examined histologically to investigate the mechanisms of laser induced damage. Preliminary results indicate that the 50% damage threshold for CE's, ED$-50$/, is approximately 70 J/cm$+2$/ with a 0.5 mm diameter spot size. Additional data points are required to determine a statistically significant ED$-50$/. Preliminary exposures of in-vivo rabbit corneas using the same laser parameters as the CE's are also reported. Comparisons between the in-vivo and in-vitro models are presented. Histopathological images from both models show remarkable similarities in the location and extent of damage throughout the full thickness of each tissue. !12
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