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US 4,638,801 AGranted
Laser ophthalmic surgical system
AssigneeLasers For Medicine
InventorsRichard T. Daly, Stephen L. Trokel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ophthalmic slit lamp is modified by adding a laser to it to be used for microsurgery. The laser is mounted on the lamp so its beam is projected into the eye along one axis while the normal viewing image generated by the lamp is focused into the eye from another angle. An aiming image is focused into the eye coincidentally with the laser beam so that the distance between the two images and their relative position may be determined by their apparent positions as seen from the viewing binoculars of the lamp.
Claims10
An apparatus for performing microsurgery on a tissue of an eye comprising:
- a frame;
- first and second arms rotatably mounted on said frame;
- means mounted on said first arm for projecting a slit image along a first optical axis on said tissue for illuminating said tissue, said slit image comprising a first and a second segment separated by a dark area with a horizontal center line, said dark area being provided as a fiducial reference within the eye;
- means mounted on said second arm for observing said slit image within the eye along a second optical axis, said first and second axis defining a horizontal plane;
- a source for a laser beam having a focal point;
- and
- focusing means mounted on said first arm for focusing said laser beam into the eye by shifting said focal point along a third axis with respect to said slit image, said third axis being at an acute angle with respect to said horizontal plane;
- whereby the actual position of said focal point with respect to said slit image is indicated by the relative position of said focused laser image with respect to said fiducial reference as observed along said second optical axis.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.