Corneal implant injector assembly and methods of use
AssigneeIntralens Vision, Inc.
InventorsAlan Le, Jeff Forsberg, Crystal Cunanan, Alexander Vatz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A corneal implant injector assembly includes a barrel, a plunger, and an injector tip with a channel having a size and orientation adapted to store and deliver a corneal implant. The corneal implant is preferably stored in the channel in a contracted state. The plunger has an implant engagement tip for engaging and moving the implant within the channel and to deploy the implant. In some embodiments, the injector tip is selectively detachable from the remaining portion of the injector assembly.
Claims16
A corneal implant delivery system, comprising:
- a plunger contained within a housing and capable of being advanced distally within the housing, the plunger having a distal end;
- a tip portion associated with a distal end of the housing, said tip portion having an upper wall and lower wall defining a channel, and a tongue portion extending distally of the channel from one of said upper wall and said lower wall;
- and
- a corneal implant retained within the tip portion channel, said corneal implant being in a contracted state while retained within the tip portion channel;
- wherein the distal end of said plunger engages said corneal implant when the plunger is advanced distally.
A method of placing a corneal implant onto a corneal tissue surface comprising:
- forming a site on or in a cornea for receiving a corneal implant;
- positioning a corneal implant delivery system proximal to the site, said corneal implant system comprising a tip portion containing a corneal implant and a plunger;
- and
- actuating the plunger of said delivery system to cause the corneal implant to be discharged from the tip portion of the delivery system onto or into the site.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.