Method and apparatus for surgically profiling the cornea using vacuum

Claim 3

Apparatus for reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of animals (including humans) to change the corneal radius and thus correct refractive errors, comprising a scraping tool, said tool having a plurality of sculpting blades of shape to scrape said cornea to said desired corneal radius; means to create a vacuum chamber above a central portion of said cornea; means to position said scraping tool within said vacuum chamber so as to be co-axial with a center axis of said cornea and means to rotate or oscillate said scraping tool relative to said cornea.

Claim 4

Apparatus for reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of animals (including humans) to change the corneal radius and thus correct refractive errors, comprising a scraping tool, said tool having a plurality of sculpting blades of shape to scrape said cornea to said desired corneal radius; means to create a vacuum chamber above a central portion of said cornea; means to position said scraping tool within said vacuum chamber so as to be co-axial with a center axis of said cornea and means to rotate or oscillate said scraping tool relative to said cornea.

Claim 5

Apparatus of claim 2 including indexing means to provide indication of the axial location of said scraping tool relative to said cornea.

Claim 6

Apparatus of claim 2 wherein the amount of said vacuum is within the range of 6 to 10 inches of Hg.

Claim 11

The method of claim 6 wherein said axially moving of said scraping tool is done incrementally.

Claim 14

The method of claim 8 wherein rotating or oscillating occurs manually.

Claim 17

The method of claim 10 wherein said vertical axis is a visual axis of said eye.

Claim 18

Method of claim 10 including the step of axially advancing said blade incrementally against said cornea until said refractive error has been corrected.

Claim 21

The method of claim 13 wherein said rotating or oscillating occurs manually.

Claim 30

Apparatus for reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of animals (including humans) to change the corneal radius and thus correct refractive errors, comprising a scraping tool, said tool having at least one planar knife edge blade of shape to scrape said cornea to said desired corneal radius; means to create a vacuum chamber surrounding and above a central portion of said cornea; means to position said scraping tool within said vacuum chamber and to rotate or oscillate said scraping tool relative to said cornea until a desired optically corrective curvature has been achieved.

Claim 31

Apparatus for reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of animals (including humans) to change the corneal radius and thus correct refractive errors, comprising a scraping tool, said tool having at least one planar knife edge blade of shape to scrape said cornea to said desired corneal radius; means to create a vacuum chamber surrounding and above a central portion of said cornea; means to position said scraping tool within said vacuum chamber and to rotate or oscillate said scraping tool relative to said cornea until a desired optically corrective curvature has been achieved.

Claim 32

Apparatus of claim 19 including indexing means to provide indication of the axial location of said scraping tool relative to said cornea.

Claim 33

Apparatus of claim 19 wherein the amount of said vacuum is within the range of 6 to 10 inches of Hg.

Claim 34

Apparatus of claim 19 wherein the amount of said vacuum is sufficient to make said cornea semi-rigid.

Claim 35

Apparatus of claim 22 wherein said holding sleeve and said guide sleeve include micrometer indexing means for incrementally measuring said axial movement of said scraping tool.

Claim 36

Apparatus for reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of animals (including humans) to change the corneal radius and thus correct refractive errors, comprising a cylindrical positioning ring having resilient vacuum ring means on its bottom side for temporary attachment to a sclera portion of said eye and surrounding said cornea to be reprofiled, positioning pins at a top side of said positioning ring, and vacuum means communicating with said vacuum ring means: a cylindrical holding sleeve, means at a bottom of said holding sleeve to interconnect with said positioning pins, screw threads of a given pitch formed on an interior portion of said holding sleeve, and further having a resilient cylindrical sleeve at the bottom thereof in contact with said eye around said cornea; a guide sleeve having screw threads of said given pitch formed exteriorly thereof for axial movement by rotatable attachment with said screw threads of said sleeve; means to create a vacuum chamber within said holding sleeve above said cornea; a scraping tool, said scraping tool adapted to be rotatably and axially received within said holding sleeve and said guide sleeve, a collar means on said scraping tool to rotatably support said scraping tool upon said guide sleeve, at least one knife edge blade at the bottom of said scraping tool; means, within said vacuum chamber, to position said knife edge blade tangentially to and against a top center visual axis of said cornea; and means to rotate or oscillate said knife edge blade coaxial with said visual axis of said eye so as to scrape said cornea until said refractive error has been substantially corrected.

Claim 37

Apparatus for reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of animals (including humans) to change the corneal radius and thus correct refractive errors, comprising a cylindrical positioning ring having resilient vacuum ring means on its bottom side for temporary attachment to a sclera portion of said eye and surrounding said cornea to be reprofiled, positioning pins at a top side of said positioning ring, and vacuum means communicating with said vacuum ring means: a cylindrical holding sleeve, means at a bottom of said holding sleeve to interconnect with said positioning pins, screw threads of a given pitch formed on an interior portion of said holding sleeve, and further having a resilient cylindrical sleeve at the bottom thereof in contact with said eye around said cornea; a guide sleeve having screw threads of said given pitch formed exteriorly thereof for axial movement by rotatable attachment with said screw threads of said sleeve; means to create a vacuum chamber within said holding sleeve above said cornea; a scraping tool, said scraping tool adapted to be rotatably and axially received within said holding sleeve and said guide sleeve, a collar means on said scraping tool to rotatably support said scraping tool upon said guide sleeve, at least one knife edge blade at the bottom of said scraping tool; means, within said vacuum chamber, to position said knife edge blade tangentially to and against a top center visual axis of said cornea; and means to rotate or oscillate said knife edge blade coaxial with said visual axis of said eye so as to scrape said cornea until said refractive error has been substantially corrected.

Claim 38

Apparatus of claim 24 wherein said knife blade is concave.

Claim 39

Apparatus of claim 24 wherein said knife edge blade is such to effectively decrease the corneal radius.

Claim 40

Apparatus of claim 24 wherein said knife edge blade is such to effectively increase the corneal radius.

Claim 41

Apparatus of claim 24 wherein said knife edge blade comprises a plurality of radial blades, the bottom sharpened knife edges of which are transverse to the axis of said scraping tool.

Claim 42

Apparatus of claim 24 wherein said holding sleeve and said cylindrical sleeve are substantially transparent.

Claim 43

Apparatus of claim 29 wherein said pitch of said screw threads is 40 threads per inch.

Claim 44

Apparatus of claim 24 wherein said pitch of said screw threads is between 35 to 50 threads per inch.

Claim 45

Apparatus of claim 24 including means to axially advance said blade incrementally against said cornea until said refractive error has been corrected.

Claim 46

Apparatus of claim 32 including indexing means to provide indication of the axial location of said profiling tool relative to said cornea.

Claim 47

Apparatus for reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of animals (including humans) to correct refractive errors, comprising a positioning ring having means to be temporarily attached to and surround the eye relative to the cornea to be reprofiled; a holding sleeve having means at its bottom to be retained by the position ring, a guide sleeve rotatable to the holding sleeve; means to create a vacuum chamber within said holding sleeve centrally above said cornea; a rotatable scraping tool adapted to be received within the holding sleeve and supported by the guide sleeve, a bottom end of the scraping tool being positionable within said vacuum chamber and comprised of sharpened knife edge substantially planar blade means, at said bottom end, to scrape a portion of the top center of said cornea necessary to correct said refractive errors.

Claim 48

Apparatus for reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of animals (including humans) to correct refractive errors, comprising a positioning ring having means to be temporarily attached to and surround the eye relative to the cornea to be reprofiled; a holding sleeve having means at its bottom to be retained by the position ring, a guide sleeve rotatable to the holding sleeve; means to create a vacuum chamber within said holding sleeve centrally above said cornea; a rotatable scraping tool adapted to be received within the holding sleeve and supported by the guide sleeve, a bottom end of the scraping tool being positionable within said vacuum chamber and comprised of sharpened knife edge substantially planar blade means, at said bottom end, to scrape a portion of the top center of said cornea necessary to correct said refractive errors.

Claim 49

Apparatus for reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of animals (including humans) to correct refractive errors, comprising a positioning ring having means to be temporarily attached to and surround the eye relative to the cornea to be reprofiled; a holding sleeve having means at its bottom to be retained by the position ring, a guide sleeve rotatable to the holding sleeve; means to create a vacuum chamber within said holding sleeve centrally above said cornea; a manually rotatable scraping tool adapted to be received within the holding sleeve and supported by the guide sleeve, a bottom end of the scraping tool being positionable within said vacuum chamber and comprised of sharpened knife edge substantially planar blade means, at said bottom end, to scrape a portion of the top center of said cornea necessary to correct said refractive errors.

Claim 50

Apparatus for reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of animals (including humans) to correct refractive errors, comprising a positioning ring having means to be temporarily attached to and surround the eye relative to the cornea to be reprofiled; a holding sleeve having means at its bottom to be retained by the position ring, a guide sleeve rotatable to the holding sleeve; means to create a vacuum chamber within said holding sleeve centrally above said cornea; a manually rotatable scraping tool adapted to be received within the holding sleeve and supported by the guide sleeve, a bottom end of the scraping tool being positionable within said vacuum chamber and comprised of sharpened knife edge substantially planar blade means, at said bottom end, to scrape a portion of the top center of said cornea necessary to correct said refractive errors.

Claim 51

Apparatus for reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of animals (including humans) to change the corneal radius and thus correct refractive errors, comprising a cylindrical positioning ring having resilient vacuum ring means on its bottom side for temporary attachment to a sclera portion of said eye and surrounding said cornea to be reprofiled, positioning pins at a top side of said positioning ring, and vacuum means communicating with said vacuum ring means: a cylindrical holding sleeve, means at a bottom of said holding sleeve to interconnect with said positioning pins, screw threads of a given pitch formed on an interior portion of said holding sleeve, and further having a resilient cylindrical sleeve at the bottom thereof in contact with said eye around said cornea; a guide sleeve having screw threads of said given pitch formed exteriorly thereof for axial movement by rotatable attachment with said screw threads of said sleeve; means to create a vacuum chamber within said holding sleeve centrally above said cornea; a scraping tool, said scraping tool adapted to be rotatably and axially received within said holding sleeve and said guide sleeve, a collar means on said scraping tool to rotatably support said scraping tool upon said guide sleeve, at least one knife edge blade at the bottom of said scraping tool; means, within said vacuum chamber, to position said knife edge blade; and means to rotate or oscillate said knife edge blade coaxial with said visual axis of said eye so as to scrape said cornea until said refractive error has been substantially corrected.

Claim 52

Apparatus for reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of animals (including humans) to change the corneal radius and thus correct refractive errors, comprising a cylindrical positioning ring having resilient vacuum ring means on its bottom side for temporary attachment to a sclera portion of said eye and surrounding said cornea to be reprofiled, positioning pins at a top side of said positioning ring, and vacuum means communicating with said vacuum ring means: a cylindrical holding sleeve, means at a bottom of said holding sleeve to interconnect with said positioning pins, screw threads of a given pitch formed on an interior portion of said holding sleeve, and further having a resilient cylindrical sleeve at the bottom thereof in contact with said eye around said cornea; a guide sleeve having screw threads of said given pitch formed exteriorly thereof for axial movement by rotatable attachment with said screw threads of said sleeve; means to create a vacuum chamber within said holding sleeve centrally above said cornea; a scraping tool, said scraping tool adapted to be rotatably and axially received within said holding sleeve and said guide sleeve, a collar means on said scraping tool to rotatably support said scraping tool upon said guide sleeve, at least one knife edge blade at the bottom of said scraping tool; means, within said vacuum chamber, to position said knife edge blade; and means to rotate or oscillate said knife edge blade coaxial with said visual axis of said eye so as to scrape said cornea until said refractive error has been substantially corrected.

Claim 53

Apparatus for surgically reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye to a desired corneal radius and thus correct refractive errors, comprising: a profiling tool, said tool having at least one sharpened substantially planar knife edge blade, means to create a vacuum chamber centrally above said cornea, means, within said vacuum chamber, to retain said knife edge relative to a top center of said cornea; and manual means to rotate or oscillate said blades against said top center of said cornea coaxially about a visual axis of said cornea.

Claim 54

Apparatus for surgically reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye to a desired corneal radius and thus correct refractive errors, comprising: a profiling tool, said tool having at least one sharpened substantially planar knife edge blade, means to create a vacuum chamber centrally above said cornea, means, within said vacuum chamber, to retain said knife edge relative to a top center of said cornea; and manual means to rotate or oscillate said blades against said top center of said cornea coaxially about a visual axis of said cornea.

Claim 55

Apparatus of claim 37 including indexing means to provide indication of the axial location of said profiling tool relative to said cornea.

Claim 56

Apparatus for correcting refractive error in an eye having a cornea with a visual axis, comprising: a scraping tool, said tool having a sharpened knife edge blade at one end; means to create a vacuum chamber above said cornea; means, within said vacuum chamber, to position said knife edge blade tangentially to and against a top of said cornea at said visual axis; and means to rotate or oscillate said knife edge about said visual axis so as to scrape said cornea with said knife edge until said refractive error has been substantially corrected.

Claim 57

Apparatus for correcting refractive error in an eye having a cornea with a visual axis, comprising: a scraping tool, said tool having a sharpened knife edge blade at one end; means to create a vacuum chamber above said cornea; means, within said vacuum chamber, to position said knife edge blade tangentially to and against a top of said cornea at said visual axis; and means to rotate or oscillate said knife edge about said visual axis so as to scrape said cornea with said knife edge until said refractive error has been substantially corrected.

Claim 58

An implement for reprofiling the anterior surface of the cornea of an eye comprising: a tool comprising a spindle having at one end thereof, constituting its inner end, a planar scraper blade means projecting endwise therefrom and extending outwardly from the spindle axis for scraping off portions of the anterior surface of the cornea by rotation or oscillation of the tool with the edge of said planar blade means in scraping engagement with said anterior surface of said cornea, means for holding the spindle for manual rotation coaxial with a visual axis of said cornea and for axial movement along said visual axis, means for mounting said holding means on the cornea of an eye in fixed relation to the eye with said planar scraper blade means at the inner end of the spindle in position for scraping engagement with said anterior surface of the cornea to scrape said surface in a circular manner, means to create a vacuum above a central portion of said cornea within a chamber formed by said means for mounting above the cornea, said planar scraper blade means being operative within said vacuum chamber, means for gauging the axial extension of the inner end of the spindle from the holding means to gauge the penetration of the edge of the blade means into the cornea for said scraping, and said gauging means being adjustable to vary the extension of the inner end of the spindle from the holding means.

Claim 59

An implement for reprofiling the anterior surface of the cornea of an eye comprising: a tool comprising a spindle having at one end thereof, constituting its inner end, a planar scraper blade means projecting endwise therefrom and extending outwardly from the spindle axis for scraping off portions of the anterior surface of the cornea by rotation or oscillation of the tool with the edge of said planar blade means in scraping engagement with said anterior surface of said cornea, means for holding the spindle for manual rotation coaxial with a visual axis of said cornea and for axial movement along said visual axis, means for mounting said holding means on the cornea of an eye in fixed relation to the eye with said planar scraper blade means at the inner end of the spindle in position for scraping engagement with said anterior surface of the cornea to scrape said surface in a circular manner, means to create a vacuum above a central portion of said cornea within a chamber formed by said means for mounting above the cornea, said planar scraper blade means being operative within said vacuum chamber, means for gauging the axial extension of the inner end of the spindle from the holding means to gauge the penetration of the edge of the blade means into the cornea for said scraping, and said gauging means being adjustable to vary the extension of the inner end of the spindle from the holding means.

Claim 60

An implement for surgically reprofiling the anterior surface of the cornea of an eye comprising: a tool comprising a spindle having at one end thereof, constituting its inner end, a sharpened knife-edge planar scraper blade means projecting endwise therefrom and extending outwardly from the spindle axis for scraping off portions of the anterior surface of the cornea by rotation or oscillation of the tool with the sharpened edge of the planar blade means in scraping engagement with said anterior surface; means for holding the spindle for rotation on its axis and for axial movement with the spindle extending at its said inner end out of said holding means; means for mounting said holding means concentrically with a visual axis of said cornea in fixed relation to the eye with the planar blade means at the inner end of the spindle in position for scraping engagement with the anterior surface of the cornea to scrape said surface in a circular pattern about said visual axis; means to create a vacuum in a space above a central portion of said cornea; and means for gauging the extension of the inner end of the spindle from the holding means to gauge the penetration of the edge of the planar blade means into the cornea for said scraping, said gauging means being adjustable to vary the extension of the inner end of the spindle from the holding means.

Claim 61

An implement for surgically reprofiling the anterior surface of the cornea of an eye comprising: a tool comprising a spindle having at one end thereof, constituting its inner end, a sharpened knife-edge planar scraper blade means projecting endwise therefrom and extending outwardly from the spindle axis for scraping off portions of the anterior surface of the cornea by rotation or oscillation of the tool with the sharpened edge of the planar blade means in scraping engagement with said anterior surface; means for holding the spindle for rotation on its axis and for axial movement with the spindle extending at its said inner end out of said holding means; means for mounting said holding means concentrically with a visual axis of said cornea in fixed relation to the eye with the planar blade means at the inner end of the spindle in position for scraping engagement with the anterior surface of the cornea to scrape said surface in a circular pattern about said visual axis; means to create a vacuum in a space above a central portion of said cornea; and means for gauging the extension of the inner end of the spindle from the holding means to gauge the penetration of the edge of the planar blade means into the cornea for said scraping, said gauging means being adjustable to vary the extension of the inner end of the spindle from the holding means.

Claim 62

An implement for surgically reprofiling the anterior surface of the cornea of an eye comprising: an axial tool having at one end thereof, constituting its inner end, a sharpened knife edge planar blade means projecting endwise therefrom and extending outwardly from the axis of the tool for correcting refractive error on the anterior surface of the corneal by manual rotation or oscillation of said tool with the sharpened edge of the blade means in engagement with said anterior surface, means for holding said tool for rotation about its axis and for controllable axial movement, means for mounting said holding means in fixed relation to said eye with said sharpened knife edge blade means at the inner end of the tool in position for engagement with said anterior surface of the cornea, means to create a vacuum within a chamber formed by said means for mounting above a central portion of the cornea, said knife edge blade means being operative within said vacuum chamber, means for gauging and adjusting the axial extension of the inner end of the tool from the holding means to gauge the locus of the edge of the blade means relative to said anterior surface of said cornea.

Claim 63

An implement for surgically reprofiling the anterior surface of the cornea of an eye comprising: an axial tool having at one end thereof, constituting its inner end, a sharpened knife edge planar blade means projecting endwise therefrom and extending outwardly from the axis of the tool for correcting refractive error on the anterior surface of the corneal by manual rotation or oscillation of said tool with the sharpened edge of the blade means in engagement with said anterior surface, means for holding said tool for rotation about its axis and for controllable axial movement, means for mounting said holding means in fixed relation to said eye with said sharpened knife edge blade means at the inner end of the tool in position for engagement with said anterior surface of the cornea, means to create a vacuum within a chamber formed by said means for mounting above a central portion of the cornea, said knife edge blade means being operative within said vacuum chamber, means for gauging and adjusting the axial extension of the inner end of the tool from the holding means to gauge the locus of the edge of the blade means relative to said anterior surface of said cornea.

Claim 64

An implement for surgically reprofiling the anterior surface of the cornea of an eye comprising: an axial tool having at one end thereof, constituting its inner end, a sharpened knife edge planar blade means projecting endwise therefrom and extending outwardly from the axis of the tool for correcting refractive error on the anterior surface of the corneal by rotation or oscillation of said tool with the edge of the blade means in engagement with said anterior surface, means for holding said tool for rotation about its axis and for controllable axial movement, means for mounting said holding means in fixed relation to said eye with said sharpened knife edge at the inner end of the tool in position for engagement with said anterior surface of the cornea, means to create a vacuum within a chamber formed by said means for mounting above a central portion of said cornea, said knife edge blade means being operative within said vacuum chamber, means for gauging and adjusting the axial extension of the inner end of the tool from the holding means to gauge the locus of the edge of said knife edge relative to said anterior surface of said cornea.

Claim 65

An implement for surgically reprofiling the anterior surface of the cornea of an eye comprising: an axial tool having at one end thereof, constituting its inner end, a sharpened knife edge planar blade means projecting endwise therefrom and extending outwardly from the axis of the tool for correcting refractive error on the anterior surface of the corneal by rotation or oscillation of said tool with the edge of the blade means in engagement with said anterior surface, means for holding said tool for rotation about its axis and for controllable axial movement, means for mounting said holding means in fixed relation to said eye with said sharpened knife edge at the inner end of the tool in position for engagement with said anterior surface of the cornea, means to create a vacuum within a chamber formed by said means for mounting above a central portion of said cornea, said knife edge blade means being operative within said vacuum chamber, means for gauging and adjusting the axial extension of the inner end of the tool from the holding means to gauge the locus of the edge of said knife edge relative to said anterior surface of said cornea.