Using medical lubricating jelly in human cadaver eyes to teach ophthalmic surgery

Attempting to learn phacomemulsification through the severely edematous cornea of a human cadaver eye is often difficult. We propose a method of improving the view of the anterior chamber structures. Medical lubricating jelly is injected into the anterior chamber of a cadaver eye. After 10 minutes, excellent corneal clarity is achieved. There was no change in the corneal edema with the injection of sodium hyaluronate 1.4% (Healon GV as a control. Using medical lubricating jelly in place of viscoelastic material is an inexpensive, effective adjunct in ophthalmic surgical teaching.