초록 ▼

A refractive laser surgery process is disclosed for using compact, low-cost ophthalmic laser systems which have computer-controlled scanning with a non-contact delivery device for both photo-ablation and photo-coagulation in corneal reshaping. The basic laser systems may include flash-lamp and diode

A refractive laser surgery process is disclosed for using compact, low-cost ophthalmic laser systems which have computer-controlled scanning with a non-contact delivery device for both photo-ablation and photo-coagulation in corneal reshaping. The basic laser systems may include flash-lamp and diode pumped UV solid state lasers (193-215 nm), compact excimer laser (193 nm), free-running Er:glass (1.54 microns), Ho:YAG (2.1 microns), Q-switched Er:YAG (2.94 microns), and tunable IR lasers, (750-1100) nm and (2.5-3.2) microns. The advantages of the non-contact, scanning device used in the process over other prior art lasers include being safer, reduced cost, more compact and more precise and with greater flexibility. The theory of beam overlap and of ablation rate and coagulation patterns is also disclosed for system parameters. Lasers are selected with energy of (0.01-10) mJ, repetition rate of (1-10,000), pulse duration of 0.01 nanoseconds to a few hundreds of microseconds, and with spot size of (0.05-2) mm for use with refractive laser surgery.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A method of performing corneal refractive surgery by reshaping a portion of a corneal surface comprising the steps of:selecting a laser having a pulsed output beam of predetermined ultraviolet wavelength and having an energy level less than of no greater than 10 mJ/pulse; selecting a scanning me

1. A method of performing corneal refractive surgery by reshaping a portion of a corneal surface comprising the steps of:selecting a laser having a pulsed output beam of predetermined ultraviolet wavelength and having an energy level less than of no greater than 10 mJ/pulse; selecting a scanning mechanism for scanning said selected laser output beam, said scanning mechanism including a galvanometer scanning mechanism for controlling said laser beam into an overlapping pattern of adjacent pulses; coupling said laser beam to a scanning device for scanning said laser beam over a predetermined surface; focusing said scanning laser beam onto a corneal surface to a predetermined generally fixed spot size; aligning the center of the said scanning laser beam onto the corneal surface with a visible aiming beam; controlling the scanning mechanism to deliver the scanning laser beam in a predetermined overlapping pattern onto a plurality of positions on the corneal surface to photoablate or photocoagulate corneal tissue; and removing from 0.05 to 0.5 microns of corneal tissue per pulse overlapped to remove tissue to a desired depth, whereby a patient's vision is corrected by the reshaping of the corneal surface of the patient's eye using a low power laser.