A New Valve Actuator for a Glaucoma Treatment by Using MEMS

Glaucoma is an eye disease which is caused by abnormal high IOP (Intra Ocular Pressure) in the eye. High IOP is caused by the aqueous humor which is produced consistently but not drained due to the malfunction of the trabecular system which has a role of draining the aqueous humor into the venous system. Currently, there are some methods to treat glaucoma, Among these, the use of implants is increasing in these days due to many problems in other methods. However, conventional implants are passive implants and have critical disadvantage. Therefore, it is needed to develop a new implant using MEMS structure which is capable of controlling the IOP actively and copes with personal difference of patients. An active glaucoma implant consists of the valve actuator, pressure sensor, controller, and power supply. In this paper the valve actuator is considered. We make experiments and simulations with the fabricated ...