Therapeutic eye treatment with gases
AssigneeEquinox Ophthalmic, Inc.
InventorsJohn Berdahl, George Tsai
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus to maintain an environment over an anterior surface of a patient eye can include an enclosure sized and shaped to be seated about the patient eye to form a cavity within the enclosure. The enclosure can be configured to contain a fluid other than ambient air in contact with the patient eye. The apparatus can include a fluid regulator in communication with the enclosure, where the fluid regulator can be configured to regulate the composition of the fluid contained within the enclosure.
Claims20
An apparatus to control humidity level of a fluid in a cavity over an anterior surface of a patient eye comprising:
- an enclosure, sized and shaped to form the cavity over the anterior surface of the patient eye the enclosure including an inlet to receive the fluid and an outlet to return the fluid for recirculation, the cavity configured to contain the fluid in contact with the patient eye;
- a humidity sensor in communication with the cavity, configured to sense an indication of humidity level in the cavity;
- and
- a processor circuit configured to receive the indication of the humidity level and generate a control signal that is capable of both increasing and decreasing the humidity level of the fluid in the cavity.
A method to adjust an apparatus to control humidity level of a fluid in a cavity formed by an enclosure located over an anterior surface of a patient eye, the apparatus including the enclosure with an inlet to receive the fluid and an outlet to return the fluid for recirculation, a humidity sensor, and a processor circuit, the method comprising:
- sensing an indication of humidity level in the cavity with the humidity sensor;
- and
- controlling the humidity level in the cavity by generating a control signal with the processor circuit that is capable of both increasing and decreasing the humidity level of the fluid based on the indication of humidity level sensed with the humidity sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.