Visible-light optical coherence microscopy for corneal imaging

Corneal disease is the fifth leading cause of global blindless. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) for anterior imaging is extensively used due to its non-invasive and high-resolution volumetric imaging characteristics. Optical coherence microscopy (OCM) is a technical variation of OCT that can image the cornea with cellular resolution. Here, we demonstrate a visible-light OCM as a low-cost and easily reproducible system to visualize various corneal cellular structures such as epithelial cells, endothelial cells, keratocytes, and collagen bundles within stromal lamellae. The visible-light OCM was also used to study pressure changes in anterior segment human donor eyes. The system achieved an axial resolution of 12 mu m in tissue over a 1.2 mm imaging depth, and a lateral resolution of 1.6 mu m over a field of view of up to 750 mu m x 750 mu m.