Porcine Corneal Injuries and Investigation of Damage Thresholds of High-Frequency Terahertz Wave

The objective was to investigate immediate ocular damage in exposed to 34.5-terahertz (THz) electromagnetic wave generated by quantum cascade laser (QCL). This research developed the damage porcine model for THz exposure, and its damage occurrence threshold values of time dimension and energy dimension were obtained. The right eyes were exposed to 34.5-THz spot from fiber, and the contralateral eyes were used as control eyes. Slit-lamp examination 5 min after THz exposure revealed a semicircular area of opacity characterized by fluorescein staining, indicating damaged corneal epithelial cells in the irradiated area and encircling by corneal edema. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining suggested the irradiated corneas over 2 min exposure contained fewer epithelial cell layers with vacuolated cells, swollen endothelium, and edematous stroma, compared to contralateral corneas. In vivo evidence suggested exposure time over 6 min or energy over 40 mW leaded to full-thickness detachment of the corneal epithelium. The damage was present when the energy of THz wave was greater than 20 mW or the exposure time was longer than 2 min.