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An interactive 3D animation

Explore the Tear Film and Meibomian Glands

See what happens between blinks. Watch tear-film breakup, simulate incomplete blinking, and see meibomian glands release meibum in an interactive 3D animation.

Illustrative simulation

Interactive tear film and blinking animation controls
  • Normal ≥2 μm
  • Thinning 0.5–2 μm
  • Breaking up ≤0.5 μm
  • Dry Spot

Time since blink0.0 s (simulated)

This interactive view requires a browser with 3D graphics support. The explanations are available below.
Tear film
Meibomian glands

Preparing the interactive animation…

Magnified film · lower cornea

0–5 μm · Height exaggerated
A magnified cross-section along the white dashed line across the lower cornea. The colored profile shows modeled thickness on a fixed zero-to-five-micrometer scale. Colors blend from teal through green and amber to pink as the film thins. Brown marks dry spots that can linger during early rewetting. A gold line represents the outer lipid layer, with illustrative gaps in regions assigned faster thinning, and disappears at dry spots. A blink refreshes film where the lid sweeps. A dark-blue line on the corneal surface represents attached mucins, the glycocalyx, and remains as the film thins. Both lines are schematic, not measured layer thicknesses or lipid coverage. Corneal surface

Normal

Gold: lipid layer (dashed in faster-thinning regions) · Dark blue: surface mucins (glycocalyx), which help tears spread. Lines are schematic.

Thinning between blinks

Colors shift from teal through green and amber to pink as the film thins. Brown marks areas that have dried out and can remain dry during early rewetting. A blink refreshes the area swept by the lid, while an incomplete blink leaves part of the surface less refreshed.

Follow the film through a blink

How blinking supports the tear film

More time between blinks

The tear film thins and redistributes while the eye is open. Longer intervals give local thin patches more time to develop. Compare the blink presets and watch the thickness profile beneath the eye.

The area a blink misses

An incomplete blink refreshes less of the eye’s surface. Areas the lid misses may continue thinning. Vary the closure depth to see how the refreshed area changes.

Meibomian gland animation

Meibomian glands supply lipid-rich meibum to a reservoir along the lid margins, including between blinks. Reopening spreads lipids over the tear film. In the Glands view, use Watch film spread to follow delivery and spreading in slow motion.

Further reading

These studies and reviews informed the simulator. Its flow patterns and animations are simplified illustrations and have not been fitted to the study data.

Tear-film thickness and thinning

Kimball et al. (2010) · Human study

Measurements of tear-film thickness and thinning between blinks provide the basis for the simulator’s thickness and thinning settings.

The area an incomplete blink misses

Deng et al. (2013) · Mathematical model

A model of how partial blinks leave parts of the tear film less replenished.

Add the animation to your website

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