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Abstract
An ultrasonic pachometer was used to measure the central, mid-peripheral, and peripheral thickness in 17 locations across the corneas of 12 adult New Zealand Albino rabbit eyes. The mean thickness at each location was entered into a microcomputer to generate a three-dimensional plot of corneal thickness. The rabbit cornea was found to have uniform thickness, with an average thickness variation of only 7 micrometers across the cornea. The average central corneal thickness was 407 +/- 20 micrometers. The three-dimensional representation of corneal thickness was useful in monitoring the surgical effects of cataract extraction and postoperative healing in rabbits. The ultrasonic pachometer was found to be well suited to animal studies. This study indicated that the velocity of sound in rabbit corneal tissue was approximately 1,580 m/sec.