Ophthalmological surgery technique with active patient data card

A method of controlling a laser surgery system used to ablate the cornea by selective irradiation, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a laser surgery system having a system control unit requiring the entry of predetermined enabling information from a data card bearing said predetermined enabling information;
• (b) enabling the system control unit to permit a corneal ablation procedure in respinse to the entry of said predetermined enabling information;
• and
• (c) rendering the data card inoperative to enable the system after the corneal ablation procedure has been performed by permanently altering the data card so that data on the data card is not a capable of enabling said system.

A method of controlling a laser surgery system used to ablate the cornea by selective irradiation to prevent use of the system by unauthorized personnel, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a system control unit for controlling the operation of a specific laser surgery system;
• (b) providing a unique identifier to the system control unit, said unique identifier specifying the identity of a surgeon authorized to operate said specific system;
• (c) providing an independent data carrier containing predetermined information including the identity of a surgeon authorized to operate said specific system;
• (d) comparing the unique identifier in the system control unit with the identity of the authorized surgeon specified by the predetermined information contained in the independent data carrier;
• (e) enabling said specific system to permit a corneal ablation procedure if the step (d) of comparing indicates a match;
• and
• (f) rendering the data card inoperative to enable the system after the corneal ablation procedure has been performed by permanently altering the data on the data card so that the data on the data card is not capable of enabling said system.

A method of controlling a laser surgery system used to ablated the cornea by selective irradiation, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a laser surgery system having a system control unit requiring the entry of predetermined enabling information from a data card bearing said predetermined enabling information, wherein said predetermined enabling information includes a predetermined type of laser surgery, and issuing the data card from a manufacturer of the laser surgery system, wherein the issued data card is pre-coded by the manufacturer with at least a portion of the enabling information including the predetermined type of laser surgery;
• (b) enabling the system control unit to perform a corneal ablation procedure in response to the entry of said predetermined enabling information;
• and
• (c) preventing the system control unit from performing a corneal ablation procedure of a type of laser surgery that is different than said predetermined type.