Design of an Analysis Method for the Human Cornea’s Bilateral Symmetry. A Case-Study in Healthy Patients

Bilateral symmetry in the human body is a necessary feature for our body to function more efficiently. Apparently, it could be thought that the ocular structure presents a bilateral symmetrical structure, however this does not occur in all cases, especially in those that are pathological. In many cases, symmetry is essential for the achievement of certain optical tasks. This study presents a method for evaluating bilateral symmetry (direct vs mirror) from the differences between the Cartesian coordinates (OD vs OS) in healthy corneas using customized patient-specific models and unprocessed data from corneal tomographs. The results obtained in the central and paracentral regions of the corneas evaluated show that the bilateral mirror symmetry presents differences below 10 microns and the direct bilateral symmetry reaches differences of the order of 30 microns at spatial coordinates level. This study shows that the level of asymmetry in healthy corneas can be evaluated by direct or mirror symmetry, and that the presence of asymmetric anomalies can be useful as a clinical diagnostic tool.