UV Laser Contact Interface for Accurate Eye Centration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current UVL-LVC systems face challenges such as rigid laser beam guidance requiring patient couch movement, manual eye alignment, limited eye tracking accuracy, sensitivity to ambient conditions, debris management, and inaccurate centration leading to refractive errors.
Innovation Solution
A UV laser-based system with a contact interface that affixes the patient's eye to the system, incorporating a rotatable and affixable contact interface adapter, a scanning system for precise laser application, and an imaging optical unit with enhanced acceptance angles, along with a control unit for precise alignment and debris management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a rigid laser beam guidance system is used, then safe laser beam guidance is achieved, but the patient couch must be moved and the system requires large space and complex electrical/mechanical connections
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of moving the patient couch under a fixed laser system, the patent inverts the approach by making the laser application unit movable and articulating it to follow the patient's eye. The rigid laser beam guidance is maintained in the base unit, but the delivery mechanism becomes flexible and mobile, reversing the traditional motion paradigm.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is divided into a stationary base unit containing the laser source and a mobile application unit that can be positioned independently. This segmentation allows the complex laser guidance system to remain fixed and safe while the application part becomes flexible and adaptable to patient movement.
2Ease of operation
If manual static alignment of the eye is used, then the procedure is simple, but alignment accuracy is limited and head rotation during treatment cannot be prevented
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates an eye tracker that continuously monitors eye position and provides feedback to the control unit. This feedback enables real-time adjustment of the laser beam direction and application unit positioning, maintaining high alignment accuracy throughout the treatment even if the patient's head or eye moves.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from static manual alignment to dynamic automated alignment. The application unit and laser beam can move dynamically to track the eye's position, and the system adapts in real-time to maintain centration accuracy throughout the treatment procedure.
3Length of stationary object
If large working distances between laser exit aperture and eye are used, then the optical system is simplified, but eye tracking response time is delayed and correction accuracy is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a movable application unit that can dynamically adjust its distance from the eye during treatment. The working distance is not fixed but can be optimized in real-time based on the specific treatment requirements and eye position, allowing both adequate working distance for the optical system and minimal distance for accurate eye tracking.
4Ease of operation
If eye movements are not affixed, then the procedure is less invasive, but refractive errors occur due to inaccurate centration and fluence deviations
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces mechanical eye affixation devices with an active optical tracking and compensation system. The eye tracker detects eye movements and the control unit adjusts the laser beam direction and application unit position accordingly, maintaining centration accuracy without requiring physical restraint of the eye.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system provides accurate eye alignment, reduces eye movement, improves debris removal, and enhances centration accuracy, leading to improved refractive outcomes by minimizing fluence deviations and aberrations.
Implementation Method 1
process the cornea of a patient's eye starting from its surface or to process a volume under a folded-away surface of the cornea of the patient's eye starting from the exposed surface, in each case by use of photoablation
Implementation Method 2
a suction ring (12) for suction contact with a patient's eye by application of negative pressure
Data Source
AI summary
An ultraviolet laser-based (UVL) laser vision correction (LVC) system, a contact interface and a contact interface system for such a UVL-LVC system. The invention facilitates a coupling and affixation between the patient's eye and the UVL-LVC system by application of a contact interface for the purposes of preventing eye movements when using UVL-LVC systems. The invention includes a UVL-LVC system with a base unit and an application arm which has a contact interface adapter on an application part of the application arm, to which a contact interface is affixable, the contact interface being usable to be to affix a patient's eye to the UVL-LVC system. The contact interface may have a conical wall and a suction ring but not a lens element, and optionally has an access opening or a corresponding contact interface system made of a contact interface adapter and a contact interface.