Corneal surgery apparatus

A corneal surgery apparatus for ablating a cornea of a patient's eye by irradiation of a laser beam, the apparatus comprising:

• an irradiation optical system for irradiating the laser beam onto the cornea;
• input means for inputting a first anterior-segment image of the eye picked up in a condition where measurement data for determining corneal ablation data is obtained;
• image-pickup means for picking up a second anterior-segment image of the eye in a condition where the laser beam is irradiated, the second anterior-segment image including images of marks for torsion-detection provided outside an ablation area of the eye;
• characteristic point detection means for detecting characteristic points common to the first anterior-segment image and the second anterior-segment image;
• mark detection means for detecting the mark images in the second anterior-segment image;
• torsion-detection means for automatically obtaining a torsion-error angle of the eye;
• and
• torsion-correction means for automatically correcting the obtained torsion-error angle,
• wherein the torsion-detection means automatically obtains, based on the characteristic points in the first anterior-segment image and the characteristic points in the second anterior segment image picked up before the corneal ablation, a first torsion-error angle that occurred before the corneal ablation,
• the torsion-correction means automatically performs any one of rotation of a patient's head and correction of control data on the irradiation optical system based on the obtained first torsion-error angle so as to correct the obtained first torsion-error angle,
• the torsion-detection means automatically obtains, based on the mark images in the second anterior-segment image picked up before the corneal ablation after correction of the first torsion-error angle and the mark images in the second anterior segment image picked up during the corneal ablation, a second torsion-error angle that occurred during the corneal ablation, the torsion-correction means automatically performs any one of rotation of the patient's head while stopping the irradiation of the laser beam and correction of the control data on the irradiation optical system based on the obtained second torsion-error angle so as to correct the obtained second torsion-error angle.