High-Order Optical Correction During Corneal Laser Surgery

A system for imposing a defect-correcting prescription on an eye having a cornea, the system comprising:

• a wavefront system configured to measure optical aberrations of the eye;
• a processor coupled with the wavefront system, the processor comprising a tangible medium comprising instructions that when executed cause the processor to:
• process the measured aberrations to generate the defect-correcting prescription for the eye,
• determine an ablation profile corresponding to the defect-correcting prescription,
• segment the ablation profile into at least a first-segment profile and a second-segment profile, the second-segment profile corresponding to ablations for imposing at least one high-order optical correction on the cornea, and
• determine a sequence of laser-energy ablations to impose the ablation profile on the cornea, wherein the sequence comprises applying ablations corresponding to the first-segment profile prior to applying ablations corresponding to the second-segment profile;
• and
• an eye-modifying assembly coupled with the processor, the eye-modifying assembly comprising an ablative laser for directing the determined sequence of laser energy toward the cornea so as to impose the ablation profile on the cornea.

A system for imposing a defect-correcting prescription on an eye having a cornea, the system comprising:

• an aberrometer system configured to measure optical aberrations of the eye;
• a processor coupled with the aberrometer system, the processor comprising a tangible medium comprising instructions that when executed cause the processor to:
• process the measured aberrations to generate the defect-correcting prescription for the eye,
• determine a profile corresponding to the defect-correcting prescription,
• segment the profile into at least a first-segment profile and a second-segment profile, the second-segment profile corresponding to laser alterations for imposing at least one high-order optical correction on the cornea, and
• determine a sequence of laser-energy to impose the profile on the cornea, wherein the sequence comprises applying alterations corresponding to the first-segment profile prior to applying alterations corresponding to the second-segment profile;
• and
• an eye-modifying assembly coupled with the processor, the eye-modifying assembly comprising a laser for directing the determined sequence of laser energy toward the cornea so as to impose the profile on the cornea.