The eye grows during childhood to position the retina at the correct distance behind the lens to enable focused vision, a process called emmetropization. Animal studies have demonstrated that this growth process is dependent upon visual stimuli, while genetic and environmental factors that affect the likelihood of developing myopia have also been identified. The coupling between growth, remodeling and elastic response in the eye is particularly challenging to understand. To analyse this coupling, we develop a simple model of an eye growing under intraocular pressure in response to visual stimuli. Distinct to existing three-dimensional finite-element models of the eye, we treat the sclera as a thin axisymmetric hyperelastic shell which undergoes local growth in response to external stimulus. This simplified analytic model provides a tractable framework in which to evaluate various emmetropization hypotheses and understand different types of growth feedback, which we exemplify by demonstrating that local growth laws are sufficient to tune the global size and shape of the eye for focused vision across a range of parameter values.

中文翻译：

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眼睛的形态弹性壳模型

眼睛在儿童时期成长，将视网膜置于晶状体后面的正确距离，以实现聚焦视觉，这一过程称为正视化。动物研究表明，这种生长过程依赖于视觉刺激，同时还确定了影响发展近视可能性的遗传和环境因素。眼睛的生长、重塑和弹性反应之间的耦合特别难以理解。为了分析这种耦合，我们开发了一个简单的眼睛在眼压下对视觉刺激做出反应的模型。与现有的眼睛三维有限元模型不同，我们将巩膜视为一个薄的轴对称超弹性壳，它会响应外部刺激而发生局部生长。