Device, Method, and Control Program for Refractive Surgery

• US 20100211054A1
• Filed: 04/24/2008
• Published: 08/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wavelight GmbH (The Cooper Cos., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: WaveLight AG (WaveLight GmbH)
• Inventors: Lemonis, Sissimos
• Granted Patent: US 8,672,925 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/5
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/112 for measuring diameter of pupils
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/113 for determining or recording eye movement
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2009/00844 Feedback systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2009/00846 Eyetracking
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2009/00872 Cornea
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 9/00804 Refractive treatments
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 9/00827 Refractive correction, e.g. lenticle

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for refractive surgery, in particular LASIK, make provision whereby the apex of the cornea is taken as a basis, as the ablation centre, for the refractive procedure. For this purpose, the dependence of the position of the apex on properties of the pupil is determined in the case of the eye to be treated and, from this dependence, measured properties of the pupil are used to calculate the position of the ablation centre during the refractive surgery.

Claims

1. Apparatus for refractive surgery comprising the following:

a laser-beam source (34),

means (36) for shaping and guiding the laser beam emitted by the laser-beam source, in relation to an eye (10) to be treated,

a camera (38) for recording the iris and pupil of the eye,

a computer (40), comprising a control program for controlling the said means according to an ablation profile,

characterized in that

the control program;

includes a function of the position of the apex (A) of the cornea (12) of the eye (10) in dependence on at least one property of the pupil,

during the refractive surgery, records the instantaneous property of the pupil by means of the camera and determines therefrom, by means of the said function, the position of the apex (A) of the cornea, and

aligns the ablation profile to the thus determined position of the apex (A) or of a point of the corneal surface having a fixed distance from the apex.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1,

characterized in that the property of the pupil is, or are, one or more of its dimensions.

3. Apparatus according to either one of the preceding claims,

characterized in that the property of the pupil is its shape and/or its centre.

4. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims,

characterized in that the control program also determines, by means of a recorded property of the iris, the instantaneous position of the predefined point (A;

V) of the cornea.

5. Control program for an apparatus for refractive surgery that comprises the following:

a laser-beam source (34),

means (36) for shaping and guiding the laser beam emitted by the laser-beam source, in relation to an eye (10) to be treated,

a camera (38) for recording the iris and pupil of the eye,

a computer (40), which executes the control program for the purpose of controlling the said means according to an ablation profile,

characterized in that the control program;

includes a function of the position of the apex (A) of the cornea (12) of the eye (10) in dependence on at least one property of the pupil,

during the refractive surgery, records the instantaneous property of the pupil by means of the camera and determines therefrom, by means of the said function, the position of the apex (A) of the cornea,

aligns the ablation profile to the thus determined position of the apex (A) or of a point on the corneal surface having a fixed distance from the apex.

6. Method for generating a control program for refractive surgery, by means of which method laser radiation is directed onto or into an eye to be treated, according to a predefined spatial and time sequence, the predefined spatial and time sequence being aligned in relation to a site of the eye,

characterized in that

before the refractive surgery, in the case of the eye to be treated, the dependence of the position of the apex (A), or of a point on the corneal surface having a fixed distance from the apex, on a property of the pupil that can alter during the refractive surgery is determined and stored.