The corneal quilt: a protective device designed to reduce intraoperative retinal phototoxicity

The corneal quilt is a simple, safe, inexpensive, and effective device designed to decrease the risk of intraoperative retinal phototoxicity from the operating microscope. Retinal injury is a well documented hazard, especially during prolonged procedures. The corneal quilt can be easily used as an adjunct to other methods designed to protect the retina from excessive incident light. In this study, we fashioned an approximately 6- x 5-millimeter semi-transparent corneal occluder from the nonadhesive portion of a 3M Steridrape. We determined spectrophotometrically that the corneal quilt reduced the transmission not only of visible light, but of ultraviolet and blue wavelengths as well, the wavelengths known to be the most phototoxic to the retina. However, no data were obtained actually demonstrating the degree to which light is scattered after transmission through the corneal quilt.