Apparatus for surgically re-profiling the cornea

Claim 2

Apparatus for surgically reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of a human to change the corneal radius and thus correct refractive errors, comprising a cylindrical positioning ring having resilient vacuum means on its bottom side for temporary attachment to a sclera portion of said eye and surrounding said cornea to be reprofiled, and vacuum means communicating with said vacuum ring means: a holding sleeve, means at a bottom of said holding sleeve to interconnect with said positioning ring, screw threads of a given pitch formed on an exterior portion of said holding sleeve, a guide sleeve having screw threads of said given pitch formed interiorly thereof for rotatable attachment with said screw threads of said holding sleeve; a profiling tool, said profiling tool adapted to be rotatably and axially received within said holding sleeve and said guide sleeve, a collar means on said profiling tool to rotatably support said profiling tool upon said guide sleeve, at least one sharpened knife edge blade at the bottom of said profiling tool; and means to rotate or oscillate said knife edge relative to a visual axis of said eye so as to scrape said cornea until said refractive error has been substantially corrected.

Claim 3

Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said knife edge blade is such to effectively increase the corneal radius.

Claim 4

Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said knife edge blade is such to effectively decrease the corneal radius.

Claim 5

Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said holding sleeve is substantially transparent.

Claim 6

Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said pitch of said screw threads is between 35 to 50 threads per inch.

Claim 7

Apparatus of claim 5 wherein said pitch of said screw threads is 40 threads per inch.

Claim 8

Apparatus of claim 6 wherein said holding sleeve and said guide sleeve includes micrometer indexing means for measuring the axial movement of said profiling tool.

Claim 9

Apparatus of claim 1 including a first electrical contact connected to said profiling tool, a second electrical contact connected to said human, and an on-off electrical power circuit means connecting said first and second contacts with a visual and/or audible indicator means of an initial contact of said knife edge blade with said cornea.

Claim 10

Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said profiling tool includes frictional means releasably engageable with the inner periphery of said holding sleeve.

Claim 11

Apparatus of claim 7 wherein said holding sleeve and said guide sleeve include micrometer indexing means for measuring axial movement of said profiling tool.

Claim 12

Apparatus for surgically reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of a human to change the corneal radius and thus correct refractive errors, comprising a cylindrical positioning ring having resilient vacuum means on its bottom side for temporary attachment to a sclera portion of said eye and surrounding said cornea to be reprofiled, and vacuum means communicating with said vacuum ring means: a holding sleeve, means at a bottom of said holding sleeve to interconnect with said positioning ring, screw threads of a given pitch formed on an exterior portion of said holding sleeve, a guide sleeve having screw threads of said given pitch formed interiorly thereof for rotatable attachment with said screw threads of said holding sleeve; a profiling tool, said profiling tool adapted to be rotatably and axially received within said holding sleeve and said guide sleeve, a collar means on said profiling tool to rotatably support said profiling tool upon said guide sleeve, a plurality of radial blades at the bottom of said profiling tool, the bottom sharpened knife edges of which are transverse to the axis of said profiling tool; and means to rotate or oscillate said knife edge relative to a visual axis of said eye so as to scrape said cornea until said refractive error has been substantially corrected.

Claim 13

Apparatus for surgically reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of a human to change the corneal radius and thus correct refractive errors, comprising a cylindrical positioning ring having resilient vacuum means on its bottom side for temporary attachment to a sclera portion of said eye and surrounding said cornea to be reprofiled, and vacuum means communicating with said vacuum ring means: a holding sleeve, means at a bottom of said holding sleeve to interconnect with said positioning ring, screw threads of a given pitch formed on an exterior portion of said holding sleeve, a guide sleeve having screw threads of said given pitch formed interiorly thereof for rotatable attachment with said screw threads of said holding sleeve; a profiling tool, said profiling tool adapted to be rotatably and axially received within said holding sleeve and said guide sleeve, a collar means on said profiling tool to rotatably support said profiling tool upon said guide sleeve, a plurality of radial blades at the bottom of said profiling tool, the bottom sharpened knife edges of which are transverse to the axis of said profiling tool; and means to rotate or oscillate said knife edge relative to a visual axis of said eye so as to scrape said cornea until said refractive error has been substantially corrected.

Claim 14

Apparatus for surgically reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of a human to change the corneal radius and thus correct refractive errors, comprising a cylindrical positioning ring having resilient vacuum means on its bottom side for temporary attachment to a sclera portion of said eye and surrounding said cornea to be reprofiled, and vacuum means communicating with said vacuum ring means: a holding sleeve, means at a bottom of said holding sleeve to interconnect with said positioning ring, screw threads of a given pitch formed on an exterior portion of said holding sleeve, a guide sleeve having screw threads of said given pitch formed interiorly thereof for rotatable attachment with said screw threads of said holding sleeve; a profiling tool, said profiling tool adapted to be rotatably and axially received within said holding sleeve and said guide sleeve, a collar means on said profiling tool to rotatably support said profiling tool upon said guide sleeve, a plurality of radial blades, at the bottom of said profiling tool, the bottom sharpened ends of which are concave relative to the axis of said profiling tool, to effectively increase the corneal radius; and means to rotate or oscillate said knife edge relative to a visual axis of said eye so as to scrape said cornea until said refractive error has been substantially corrected.

Claim 15

Apparatus for surgically reprofiling the corneal portion of an eye of a human to change the corneal radius and thus correct refractive errors, comprising a cylindrical positioning ring having resilient vacuum means on its bottom side for temporary attachment to a sclera portion of said eye and surrounding said cornea to be reprofiled, and vacuum means communicating with said vacuum ring means: a holding sleeve, means at a bottom of said holding sleeve to interconnect with said positioning ring, screw threads of a given pitch formed on an exterior portion of said holding sleeve, a guide sleeve having screw threads of said given pitch formed interiorly thereof for rotatable attachment with said screw threads of said holding sleeve; a profiling tool, said profiling tool adapted to be rotatably and axially received within said holding sleeve and said guide sleeve, a collar means on said profiling tool to rotatably support said profiling tool upon said guide sleeve, a plurality of radial blades, at the bottom of said profiling tool, the bottom sharpened ends of which are concave relative to the axis of said profiling tool, to effectively increase the corneal radius; and means to rotate or oscillate said knife edge relative to a visual axis of said eye so as to scrape said cornea until said refractive error has been substantially corrected.

Claim 16

Apparatus for correcting refractive error in an eye having a cornea with a center visual axis, comprising: a profiling tool, said tool having a sharpened straight knife edge blade of shape to incise said cornea to said desired corneal radius; means co-axial to said visual axis to receive and support said profiling tool such that said blade is tangential to and against a top of said cornea at its center axis; and means to rotate or oscillate said knife edge about said axis while against said top of said cornea so as to scrape said cornea using said knife edge until said refractive error has been substantially corrected.

Claim 17

Apparatus for correcting refractive error in an eye having a cornea with a center visual axis, comprising: a profiling tool, said tool having a sharpened straight knife edge blade of shape to incise said cornea to said desired corneal radius; means co-axial to said visual axis to receive and support said profiling tool such that said blade is tangential to and against a top of said cornea at its center axis; and means to rotate or oscillate said knife edge about said axis while against said top of said cornea so as to scrape said cornea using said knife edge until said refractive error has been substantially corrected.

Claim 18

Apparatus of claim 13 including means to axially advance said blade incrementally against said cornea until said refractive error has been corrected.

Claim 19

Apparatus of claim 13 including indexing means to provide indication of the axial location of said profiling tool relative to said cornea.

Claim 20

Apparatus for correcting refractive error in an eye having a cornea with a center visual axis comprising: a sharpened straight knife edge blade; means to position said sharpened straight knife edge blade tangentially to and axially supported against an anterior surface of said cornea at said visual axis to axially rotatably scrape said cornea concentrically about said visual axis to remove corneal material and thereby substantially correct said refractive error.

Claim 21

Apparatus for correcting refractive error in an eye having a cornea with a center visual axis comprising: a sharpened straight knife edge blade; means to position said sharpened straight knife edge blade tangentially to and axially supported against an anterior surface of said cornea at said visual axis to axially rotatably scrape said cornea concentrically about said visual axis to remove corneal material and thereby substantially correct said refractive error.

Claim 22

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 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 the 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 on the cornea of an eye in fixed relation to the eye with the blade means at the inner end of the spindle in a position tangential to the anterior surface of the cornea at a center axis of said eye for scraping engagement with the anterior surface of the cornea to scrape said surface in a circular pattern; 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 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 23

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 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 the 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 on the cornea of an eye in fixed relation to the eye with the blade means at the inner end of the spindle in a position tangential to the anterior surface of the cornea at a center axis of said eye for scraping engagement with the anterior surface of the cornea to scrape said surface in a circular pattern; 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 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 24

An implement for surgically reshaping 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 blade means projecting endwise therefrom and extending outwardly from the axis of the tool for correcting refractive error on the anterior surface of the cornea by rotation or oscillation of the tool with the edge of the blade means in tangential engagement with said anterior surface; means for holding the tool for rotation on its axis and for controllable axial movement, with the tool extending, at its said inner end, out of said holding means; means for mounting said holding means on the cornea of an eye in fixed relation to the eye with the blade means at the inner end of the tool in position for said tangential engagement with the anterior surface of the cornea; and 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 knife edge of the blade means relative to said anterior surface of said cornea.

Claim 25

An implement for surgically reshaping 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 blade means projecting endwise therefrom and extending outwardly from the axis of the tool for correcting refractive error on the anterior surface of the cornea by rotation or oscillation of the tool with the edge of the blade means in tangential engagement with said anterior surface; means for holding the tool for rotation on its axis and for controllable axial movement, with the tool extending, at its said inner end, out of said holding means; means for mounting said holding means on the cornea of an eye in fixed relation to the eye with the blade means at the inner end of the tool in position for said tangential engagement with the anterior surface of the cornea; and 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 knife edge of the blade means relative to said anterior surface of said cornea.

Claim 26

Apparatus for correcting refractive error in an eye having a cornea with a visual axis, comprising: a profiling tool, said tool having a sharpened straight knife edge blade to scrape said cornea to a desired corneal radius; means to retain said knife edge blade of said profiling tool tangential to said cornea about said axis; means to rotate or oscillate said tool about said axis so as to scrape said cornea with said knife edge until said refractive error has been substantially corrected; and means to incrementally advance or retract said tool axially along said axis.

Claim 27

Apparatus for correcting refractive error in an eye having a cornea with a visual axis, comprising: a profiling tool, said tool having a sharpened straight knife edge blade to scrape said cornea to a desired corneal radius; means to retain said knife edge blade of said profiling tool tangential to said cornea about said axis; means to rotate or oscillate said tool about said axis so as to scrape said cornea with said knife edge until said refractive error has been substantially corrected; and means to incrementally advance or retract said tool axially along said axis.

Claim 28

Apparatus of claim 19 including means to axially advance said blade incrementally against said cornea until said refractive error has been corrected.

Claim 29

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

Claim 30

Apparatus of claim 19 wherein said knife edge blade is such to effectively increase the corneal radius.

Claim 31

Apparatus of claim 22 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 profiling tool.

Claim 32

Apparatus of claim 19 wherein said knife edge blade is such to effectively decrease the corneal radius.

Claim 33

Apparatus of claim 24 wherein said knife edge blade comprises a plurality of radial blades, the bottom sharpened ends of which are concave relative to the axis of said profiling tool.

Claim 34

Apparatus of claim 19 wherein said means to retain said knife edge blade is substantially transparent.