Method of maintaining spacing in an ablation pattern
AssigneeAlcon Inc.
InventorsRudolph W. Frey, James H. Burkhalter, Gary P. Gray, Neil Zepkin, George Richard Downes, Jr., John E. McWhirter
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ophthalmic laser system includes a laser beam delivery system and an eye tracker responsive to movement of the eye operable with a laser beam delivery system for ablating corneal material of the eye through placement of laser beam shot on a selected area of the cornea of the eye. The shots are fired in a sequence and pattern such that no laser shots are fired at consecutive locations and no consecutive shots overlap. The pattern is moved in response to the movement of the eye.
Claims18
A method of correcting vision on an unrestrained eye by ablating the eye's corneal tissue comprising:
- providing laser beam shots having a size;
- selecting an area of the cornea to which the laser beam shots will be applied;
- the size of the shots being smaller than the selected area of the cornea;
- selecting a pattern for the placement of the laser beam shots on the selected area of the cornea;
- the shots in the pattern having a spacing;
- the eye being unrestrained and capable of movement;
- placing the shots on the eye in the pattern to ablate corneal tissue;
- tracking a movement of the eye, the tracking step comprising transmitting light energy aligned parallel to the laser beam shots to be incident on the eye, the light energy comprising a plurality of light spots directed to an eye boundary and sensing a movement of the plurality of light spots;
- and
- moving the placement of the laser beam shots in relation to the tracked movement of the eye, so that spacing in the pattern is maintained as subsequent shots are placed on the eye.
A method of correcting vision on an unrestrained eye by ablating the eye's corneal tissue comprising:
- providing laser beam shots having a size;
- selecting an area of the cornea to which the laser beam shots will be applied;
- the size of the shots being smaller than the selected area of the cornea;
- selecting a pattern for the placement of the laser beam shots on the selected area of the cornea;
- the shots in the pattern having a spacing;
- the eye being unrestrained and capable of movement;
- placing the shots on the eye in the pattern to ablate corneal tissue;
- tracking a saccadic movement of the eye, the tracking step comprising transmitting light energy aligned parallel to the laser beam shots to be incident on the eye, the light energy comprising a plurality of light spots directed to an eye boundary and sensing a movement of the plurality of light spots;
- and
- moving the placement of the laser beam shots in relation to the tracked movement of the eye, so that spacing in the pattern is maintained as subsequent shots are placed on the eye.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.