Method and Apparatus for Laser Surgery of the Cornea

Abstract

A laser-based method and apparatus for corneal surgery. The present invention is intended to be applied primarily to ablate organic materials, and human cornea in particular. The invention uses a laser source which has the characteristics of providing a shallow ablation depth (0.2 microns or less per laser pulse), and a low ablation energy density threshold (less than or equal to about 10 mJ / cm.sup.2), to achieve optically smooth ablated corneal surfaces. The preferred laser includes a laser emitting approximately 100-50,000 laser pulses per second, with a wavelength of about 198-300 nm and a pulse duration of about 1-5,000 picoseconds. Each laser pulse is directed by a highly controllable laser scanning system. Described is a method of distributing laser pulses and the energy deposited on a target surface such that surface roughness is controlled within a specific range. Included is a laser beam intensity monitor and a beam intensity adjustment means, such that constant energy level is maintained throughout an operation. Eye movement during an operation is corrected for by a corresponding compensation in the location of the surgical beam. Beam operation is terminated if the laser parameters or the eye positioning is outside of a predetermined tolerable range. The surgical system can be used to perform surgical procedures including removal of corneal scar, making incisions, cornea transplants, and to correct myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and other corneal surface profile defects.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 801,891, now published as 2004 / 0199150, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 799,412, filed Mar. 5, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,706,036, which is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 130,547 filed Aug. 6, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,401 which is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 07 / 788,424, filed on Nov. 6, 1991, all of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. Priority is claimed to each of these applications.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] This invention relates to methods of, and apparatus for, surgery of the cornea, and more particularly to a laser-based method and apparatus for corneal surgery. [0004] 2. Related Art [0005] The concept of correcting refractive errors by changing the curvature of the eye was brought forth early on, as illustrated in the notable...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0041] An improved method of cornea surgery is described herein which has accurate control of tissue removal, flexibility of ablating tissue at any desired location with predetermined ablation depth, an optically smooth finished surface after the surgery, and a gentle surgical beam for laser ablation action.

[0075] It is yet another object of this invention to provide a novel method of combining a plurality of laser beams to provide a high power laser beam source for an end-pumping configuration of a laser beam. The combiner eliminates limitations imposed by the physical size of the beam steering optics and the optical mounts (an earlier method of beam combining relies on the direction of the linear polarization, and this method is limited to combining two beams only).

Problems solved by technology

Hence, the importance of the optical quality of the cornea cannot be over-emphasized.

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