Analysis of Biomechanical Response After Corneal Crosslinking with Different Fluence Levels in Porcine Corneas.

To evaluate corneal stiffening of porcine corneas induced by corneal crosslinking (CXL) with constant irradiance as a function of total fluence. Ninety corneas from freshly enucleated porcine eyes were divided into five groups of 18 eyes. Groups 1-4 underwent epi-off CXL using a dextran-based riboflavin solution and an irradiance of 18 mW/cm At 10% strain, the stress was 76, 56, 52, and 31% higher in groups 1-4, respectively compared to the control group. The Young's modulus was 2.85 MPa for group 1, 2.53 MPa for group 2, 2.46 MPa for group 3, 2.12 MPa for group 4, and 1.62 MPa for the control group. The difference between groups 1 to 4 and the control group 5 were statistically significant ( Additional mechanical stiffening can be achieved by increasing the fluence of the CXL. There was no threshold detected up to 20 J/cm