Corneal Topography and Alignment for Corneal Surgical Procedures

Abstract

The methods and apparatus are configured to measure the eye without the eye contacting the patient interface, and use these measurements to determine the alignment and placement of the incision when the patient interface contacts the eye. The pre-contact position of one or more structures of the eye may be used to determine a corresponding post-contact position of one or more optical structures of the eye when the patient interface has contacted the eye such that the laser incision is placed at a location that promotes normal vision of the eye . The incisions are positioned relative to the pre-contact optics of the eye, such as the astigmatic axis, the nodes of the eye, and the visual axis of the eye.

Description

[0001] cross reference [0002] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 813,613, filed April 18, 2013, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 873,071, filed September 3, 2013, entitled "Corneal topography measurement and alignment of corneal surgical procedures" ; the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Full Paris Convention priority is therefore expressly reserved. The subject matter of this disclosure is related to the following patent application: U.S. Application Serial No. 12 / 048,182, filed March 3, 2008, and entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CREATING INCISIONS TO IMPROVE INTRAOCULAR LENS PLACEMENT" (Attorney Docket No. 43406-707 / 201); U.S. Application Serial No. 12 / 048,186, filed March 13, 2008, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CREATING OCULAR SURGICALAND RELAXING INCISIONS," (Attorney Docket No. 43406-713 / 201); filed November 2, 2012, and entitled U.S. Application Serial No. 61 / 722,064 (Attorney Do...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

The resulting force can distort the shape of the cornea and reduce the accuracy of corneal measurements in at least some cases

Deformation of the cornea associated with placement of the patient interface can limit the accuracy of corneal measurements and alignment for corneal surgical procedures

Also, images obtained with prior laser systems configured to be coupled to the eye with a patient interface may in at least some cases be at least partially distorted, which may distort images from the prior laser surgery system from images such as corneal topography and tomography. Combinations of prior eye measurement systems such as imaging systems are less than ideal in at least some cases

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