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US 5,009,660 AGranted
Gas purging, eye fixation hand piece
AssigneeVISX, Incorporated
InventorTerrance N. Clapham
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeVISX, Incorporated
InventorTerrance N. Clapham
Estimating the term…
A gas purging, eye fixation hand piece (10) includes a vacuum ring (15) evacuated by a suction line (21) through a handle (20) via which a purging gas is delivered to an array of purging nozzles (36-38) aimed into the vacuum ring from around an inner perimeter of the vacuum ring to direct purging gas jets towards the proximal side (16) of vacuum ring (15) attached to an eye that is held steady in a reference position for laser surgery. A preferably disposable and resilieint eye-engaging ring (25) is removably mounted on the vacuum ring to engage the eye around the cornea, and a spring-biased suction release valve (24) is preferably mounted on hand piece handle (20) for finger operation by the surgeon to release hand piece (10) from the eye when surgery is completed. Mounting of gas purging nozzles (36-38) on the hand piece automatically positions them properly for keeping the cornea clear of particles formed by laser ablation of eye tissue, once hand piece (10) is properly fixed to the eye.
In an eye fixation hand piece having a handle extending from a vacuum ring evacuated by a suction line and sized to encircle a cornea of an eye engaged by a proximal side of said vacuum ring so that by steadying the handle, a surgeon can hold the eye in a reference position for surgery, the improvement comprising:
A gas purging system for an eye fixation hand piece having an annular vacuum ring sized for encircling a cornea and arranged to be evacuated via a suction line for attaching a proximal side of said vacuum ring to an eye, said gas purging system comprising:
An eye fixation hand piece having a handle extending from a vacuum ring evacuated by a suction line and sized to encircle a cornea of an eye engaged by a proximal side of said vacuum ring so that by steadying the handle, a surgeon can hold the eye in a reference position for surgery, said hand piece comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.