Corneal lenticular incisions with transition zones in laser-assisted ophthalmic procedures

A method for forming a lenticule in a cornea of a patient's eye using an ophthalmic surgical laser system, comprising:

• operating the ophthalmic surgical laser system to generate a focused laser beam;
• and
• scanning the laser beam in the cornea to form an anterior lenticule incision and a posterior lenticule incision in the cornea, wherein the anterior and the posterior lenticule incisions overlap each other in a top view along a direction parallel to an optical axis of the eye, wherein the anterior and posterior lenticule incisions form the lenticule of corneal tissue between them, and wherein the anterior and posterior lenticule incisions intersect each other to form an outer edge of the lenticule;
• and
• scanning the laser beam in the cornea to form a plurality of arcuate incisions in the cornea from an anterior surface of the cornea, wherein the arcuate incisions have arcuate shapes and are located inside of the outer edge of the lenticule in the top view, and wherein the arcuate incisions are substantially perpendicular to the anterior surface of the cornea and extend toward the anterior lenticule incision without intersecting the anterior lenticule incision.

A method for forming a lenticule in a cornea of a patient's eye using an ophthalmic surgical laser system, comprising:

• operating the ophthalmic surgical laser system to generate a focused laser beam;
• and
• scanning the laser beam in the cornea to form an anterior lenticule incision and a posterior lenticule incision in the cornea,
• wherein the anterior lenticule incision includes a curved anterior optical zone and an anterior transition zone connected to and surrounding the anterior optical zone, wherein the posterior lenticule incision includes a curved posterior optical zone, a posterior transition zone connected to and surrounding the posterior optical zone, and a posterior pocket zone connected to and surrounding the posterior transition zone, wherein the anterior optical zone and the posterior optical zone overlap each other in a top view along a direction parallel to an optical axis of the eye, and the anterior transition zone and the posterior transition zone overlap each other in the top view without intersection each other, and wherein the posterior lenticule incision is larger than the anterior lenticule incision in the top view;
• scanning the laser beam in the cornea to form a ring cut, wherein the ring cut extends along an entire circumference of the lenticule and intersects both the anterior transition zone and the posterior transition zone to form the lenticule of corneal tissue bound by the anterior and posterior lenticule incisions and the ring cut;
• and
• scanning the laser beam in the cornea to form an entry cut, wherein the entry cut extends in an angled direction with respect to the optical axis and extends from an anterior corneal surface to intersect either the posterior lenticule incision, or the anterior lenticule incision, or both the posterior lenticule incision and the anterior lenticule incision, and wherein the entry cut extends a predefined angular range in the top view.