Unilateral posterior scleral defect was not associated with altered ocular biomechanics

Technologies that describe the biomechanics of the eye are of emerging importance in glaucoma and keratoconus. A defect in the wall of the eye would be expected to affect biomechanics, resulting in the dispersion of mechanical energy and more viscous rather than elastic behaviour. Here, a mildly myopic man in his 50s was noted to have a deep conduit beside the right optic disc which appeared to pass posteriorly to the optic nerve sheath or orbit. We assessed the intraocular pressure and ocular biomechanics with several methods, and compared them with the normal fellow eye. Corneal hysteresis, ocular pulse amplitude, deformation amplitude, changes in pressure with standing and lying and response to water-drinking test were all very similar between the two eyes. In this case with a unilateral posterior scleral defect, current clinical techniques to assess ocular biomechanics did not detect an asymmetry.