Methods and systems for laser ophthalmic surgery that provide for iris exposures below a predetermined exposure limit

A system for cataract surgery on an eye of a patient, comprising:

• a laser assembly for generating a pulsed laser treatment beam;
• an imaging system configured for imaging an ocular tissue of the patient, the ocular tissue comprising corneal tissue;
• an optical scanning system configured for positioning a focal zone of the treatment beam to targeted locations of the ocular tissue, the targeted locations including a location in the corneal tissue;
• a user interface for receiving input from a user;
• a graphical user interface for providing information to the user;
• and
• a computer control system operatively coupled to the laser assembly, the imaging system, the optical scanning system, the user interface and the graphical user interface, and programmed to:
• receive a parameter set from a user via a user interface device;
• generate a simulated initial treatment scan pattern of the laser treatment beam for incising the corneal tissue based on the parameter set received via the user interface device;
• calculate an initial exposure level, which is an amount of laser energy per unit area of the laser treatment beam on an iris tissue of the eye caused by the initial treatment scan pattern;
• determine whether the initial exposure level satisfies a predetermined safe exposure condition which is below an exposure that causes a minimal visible lesion in the iris tissue;
• receive a revised parameter set from the user via the user interface device, the revised parameter set having at least one different parameter value than the initial parameter set,
• wherein:
• (1) the parameter set defines an arcuate corneal incision, and the at least one different parameter value is selected from a group of values consisting of incision type, axis, optical zone, arc length, centering method, penetration type, depth units, uncut anterior, uncut posterior, and side cut angle, or (2) the parameter set defines a primary cataract incision, and the at least one different parameter value is selected from a group of values consisting of axis, limbus offset, width, length, uncut region, depth units, uncut anterior, uncut posterior, uncut central length, plane depth, and side cut angle, or (3) the parameter set defines a sideport cataract incision, and the at least one different parameter value is selected from a group of values consisting of number of incisions, axis, limbus offset, width, uncut type, uncut unit, anterior uncut length, posterior uncut length, and side cut angle;
• generate a simulated revised treatment scan pattern of the laser treatment beam for incising the corneal tissue which is different from the initial treatment scan pattern and which is based on the revised parameter set received via the user interface;
• calculate a revised exposure level, which is an amount of laser energy per unit area of the laser treatment beam on the iris tissue caused by the revised treatment scan pattern;
• determine whether the revised exposure level satisfies the predetermined safe exposure condition;
• and
• operate the optical scanning system and laser assembly to direct the laser treatment beam according to the revised treatment scan pattern if the revised exposure level satisfies the predetermined safe exposure condition, thereby performing the corneal incision.