Cumulative Effects of Near-UV Induced Corneal Damage

Abstract

A quantitative study of the cumulative effects of near-UV laser radiation in the primate cornea has been carried out. An effective tissue repair rate was obtained by determining corneal thresholds for sub-threshold exposures spaced at varying intervals from 1 hr to 10 days. The data are fitted by a single exponential term yielding a repair rate constant of 0.022 hr ⁻¹. A possible formulation of safe exposure limits for long exposures to low levels of UV radiation and for repeated sub-threshold exposures is suggested based on the observed cumulative effects.