Lamellar corneal autologous or homologous graft in refractive surgery

A method of lamellar corneal graft implantation, said method comprising the steps of:

• forming a corneal flap or one or more intrastromal incisions in a cornea of an eye of a patient;
• pivoting the corneal flap or removing a cut portion of the cornea defined by the one or more intrastromal incisions from the eye of the patient;
• applying laser energy to a lamellar corneal graft using an excimer laser or a femtosecond laser so as to modify the refractive power of the lamellar corneal graft, the lamellar corneal graft being in the form of an autologous corneal graft, a homologous corneal graft, or an exogenous corneal graft;
• and
• implanting the lamellar corneal graft into the eye of the patient under the corneal flap or in a location previously occupied by the cut portion of the cornea so as to correct the refractive power of the eye of the patient;
• wherein, prior to implantation of the lamellar corneal graft, the method further comprises the steps of:
• irradiating the lamellar corneal graft with gamma radiation;
• treating the lamellar corneal graft with 0.1% to 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) solution to decellularize the lamellar corneal graft;
• and
• preserving the lamellar corneal graft in a corneal storage media until implantation.

A method of lamellar corneal graft implantation, said method comprising the steps of:

• forming a corneal flap or one or more intrastromal incisions in a cornea of an eye of a patient;
• pivoting the corneal flap or removing a cut portion of the cornea defined by the one or more intrastromal incisions from the eye of the patient;
• applying laser energy to a lamellar corneal graft using an excimer laser or a femtosecond laser so as to modify the refractive power of the lamellar corneal graft, the lamellar corneal graft being in the form of an autologous corneal graft, a homologous corneal graft, or an exogenous corneal graft;
• and
• implanting the lamellar corneal graft into the eye of the patient under the corneal flap or in a location previously occupied by the cut portion of the cornea so as to correct the refractive power of the eye of the patient;
• wherein the lamellar corneal graft comprises autologous, homologous, or xenograft tissue, and the method further comprises the steps of:
• treating the lamellar corneal graft with a solution of riboflavin;
• and
• irradiating the lamellar corneal graft with ultraviolet radiation so as to cross-link the lamellar corneal graft to denature the proteins, glycoproteins, and/or damage the DNA of the graft's cellular elements and eliminate an immune response by the patient to the autologous, homologous, or xenograft tissue of the lamellar corneal graft, thereby eliminating the costly need for genetic modification of an animal for using a corneal stroma of the animal in refractive corneal surgery or in lamellar corneal transplantation, while simultaneously sterilizing the autologous, homologous, or xenograft tissue of the lamellar corneal graft by killing any existing viruses, bacteria, fungi, and/or parasites.

A method of lamellar corneal graft implantation, said method comprising the steps of:

• forming a corneal flap or one or more intrastromal incisions in a cornea of an eye of a patient;
• pivoting the corneal flap or removing a cut portion of the cornea defined by the one or more intrastromal incisions from the eye of the patient;
• applying laser energy to a lamellar corneal graft using an excimer laser or a femtosecond laser so as to modify the refractive power of the lamellar corneal graft, the lamellar corneal graft being in the form of an autologous corneal graft, a homologous corneal graft, or an exogenous corneal graft;
• and
• implanting the lamellar corneal graft into the eye of the patient under the corneal flap or in a location previously occupied by the cut portion of the cornea so as to correct the refractive power of the eye of the patient;
• wherein the lamellar corneal graft comprises autologous, homologous, or xenograft tissue, and the method further comprises the steps of:
• treating the lamellar corneal graft with a solution of methylene blue and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) solution to decellularize the lamellar corneal graft;
• and
• irradiating the lamellar corneal graft with a laser so as to cross-link the lamellar corneal graft to denature the proteins, glycoproteins, and/or damage the DNA of the graft's cellular elements, thereby eliminating any immune response by the patient to the autologous, homologous, or xenograft tissue of the lamellar corneal graft so as to eliminate the need for genetically modifying an animal for corneal stromal transplantation, while also sterilizing the autologous, homologous, or xenograft tissue by simultaneously killing any existing viruses, bacteria, fungi, and/or parasites.