Stiffness of Retinal and Choroidal Tissue: A Surface Wrinkling Analysis of Epiretinal Membranes and Choroidal Folds

Epiretinal membranes and contraction-induced choroidal folds are two examples of wrinkling of biologic tissue under tangential stress. The larger peak-to-peak spacing for choroidal folds vs retinal folds demonstrates that the choroid is considerably stiffer than the retina under mechanical deformations.