Rotational membrane cutter

An apparatus for eye surgery, the apparatus comprising:

• a tube having an opening and a longitudinal axis;
• a base coupled to the tube adjacent to the opening, the base comprising a surface configured to interface with a retina;
• a plurality of base teeth coupled to the base;
• a blade disposed at least partially within the opening between the tube and the base;
• and
• a plurality of blade teeth coupled to the base;
• wherein the base teeth and the blade teeth define a shearing plane, the shearing plane is oriented at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis that is greater than 90 degrees, and the blade teeth are configured to move around an axis of rotation relative to the base teeth and in the shearing plane.

A system for eye surgery, the system comprising:

• a tube having an opening and a longitudinal axis;
• a shaft at least partially disposed within the tube;
• a base coupled to the tube adjacent to the opening;
• a plurality of base teeth coupled to the base;
• a blade coupled to the shaft and disposed at least partially within the opening between the tube and the base;
• a plurality of blade teeth coupled to the base, each of the blade teeth comprising a leading edge;
• and
• a driver configured to be coupled to the shaft, the driver operable to rotate the shaft to oscillate the blade teeth parallel to a shearing plane defined between the blade teeth and the base teeth;
• wherein each of the base teeth and the blade teeth comprise a leading edge, the leading edges of the base teeth define a first arc, the leading edges of the blade teeth define a second arc, and the shearing plane is oriented at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis that is greater than 90 degrees.