Fluid flow in the anterior chamber of a human eye.

A simple model is presented to analyse fluid flow in the anterior chamber of a human eye. It is shown that under normal conditions such flow inevitably occurs. The flow, whose reduced Reynolds number is small, is viscosity dominated and is driven by buoyancy effects which are present because of the temperature difference between the front and back of the anterior chamber. In cases of severe eye trauma or as a result of certain diseases and medical conditions, particulate matter may be introduced into the anterior chamber. The motion and distribution of such particles is analysed and it is shown that the model is capable of predicting well-established and observed features that may be present in a traumatized eye such as hyphemas, keratic precipitates, hypopyons and Krukenberg spindles.