Enhanced wavefront ablation system

A method comprising:

• measuring an actual optical error of an eye of a patient with a wavefront sensor;
• generating an ablation pattern from the measured optical error, and generating an ablation pattern for a lens material corresponding to the ablation pattern for the eye;
• positioning the lens material relative to an ablation system by aligning indicia of the lens material with a reference structure of the ablation system;
• ablating a verification lens in the aligned lens material with the ablation system;
• aligning an aperture with the verification lens;
• mounting the verification lens and the aperture to the patient so that the eye is aligned with the verification lens;
• reading an eye chart with the eye through the verification lens and the aperture while exposing an ablated surface of the verification lens to determine whether a corrected visual acuity of the eye is better than 20/20 so as to verify the ablation pattern of the eye.

A system for correcting an optical error of an eye, the system comprising:

• a sensor for measuring the optical error of the eye;
• a processor for generating a verification pattern of laser energy corresponding to a refractive procedure plan of the eye, the procedure plan intended to correct the measured optical error;
• a lens material;
• a laser system for directing laser energy onto the lens material according to the verification pattern so as to form a verification lens from the lens material such that optical properties of the eye, as corrected by the verification lens with an exposed ablated surface, can verify the procedure plan with a visual acuity better than 20/20.

A system for correcting an actual optical error of an eye, the system comprising:

• a sensor for measuring the optical error of the eye;
• a processor for generating a pattern of laser energy for ablation of the eye so as to correct the measured optical error, and for generating a verification pattern of laser energy corresponding to the eye ablation pattern;
• a lens material having indicia of alignment;
• a laser system for directing laser energy onto the lens material according to the verification pattern so as to form a verification lens from the lens material, the laser system having a reference structure corresponding with the indicia of alignment so as to ensure registration of the verification pattern on the lens material, the verification lens providing a visual acuity for the eye better than 20/20 while an ablated surface of the verification lens is exposed;
• aperture means for alignment of an aperture with the verification lens, the aperture means having an aperture size selected in response to a size of a pupil of the eye;
• and
• mounting means for supporting the verification lens and aperture in alignment with the patient while a head of the patient moves to read an eye chart.

A method for selecting an eye of a patient for refractive surgery, the method comprising:

• measuring an actual optical error of the eye of the patient with a wavefront sensor;
• generating a first ablation pattern from the measured optical error, and generating a second ablation pattern for a lens material, the second ablation pattern corresponding to the first ablation pattern for the eye;
• ablating a verification lens with the ablation system;
• aligning the second ablation pattern with the eye by rotating the head of the patient with the verification lens fixed to the head;
• and
• measuring the visual acuity of the eye to be better than 20/20 with the verification lens by reading an eye chart while exposing an ablated surface of the verification lens.

A system for verifying a specific refractive error of a patient, the system comprising:

• a verification lens having optical properties compensating for the specific refractive error of the patient, the verification lens providing a visual acuity for the eye better than 20/20 while an ablated surface of the verification lens is exposed;
• an aperture aligned with the verification lens;
• and
• a trial frame supporting the verification lens and aperture.