Gels (Nov 2021)

Dynamics of a Gel-Based Artificial Tear Film with an Emphasis on Dry Disease Treatment Applications

  • Hamza Mehdaoui,
  • Hamid Ait Abderrahmane,
  • Clement de Loubens,
  • Faïçal Nait Bouda,
  • Sofiane Hamani

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/gels7040215
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 4
p. 215

Abstract

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This paper discusses the spreading of gel-based ophthalmic formulation on the cornea surface assumed to be flat. We show that gel-based formulations exhibit rheological behaviors that the Herschel–Bulkley model can describe. The continuity and momentum equations are solved numerically using the monofluid formulation and the volume-of-fluid (VOF) method. We investigated the influence of the rheological properties, namely the consistency, the yield stress, and the flow behavior index, on the spreading of a gel-based artificial tear over the cornea surface. We propose optimal values of these properties for efficient gel-based artificial tears.

Keywords