Apparatus for use in operating upon a cornea

Claim 1

An apparatus for use in operating upon a cornea of an eye comprising: a light delivery optical system for delivering an ultraviolet laser beam emitted from a laser source onto the cornea; a diaphragm with a variable aperture, disposed in said light delivery optical system, for variably restricting an irradiation area of the laser beam; means for shifting the laser beam with respect to an optical axis of said light delivery optical system; means for rotating the laser beam about the optical axis of said light delivery optical system at each shifted position to ablate the cornea circularly; means for inputting information necessary for determining the shape of a post operative cornea; means for determining the ablation amount at each shifted position of the laser beam by said beam shifting means, based on the information input through said input means; means for controlling the laser source and action of the beam rotating means based on the ablation amount determined by said ablation amount determining means at each shifted position; and wherein said laser beam ablates the cornea of the eye to correct ametropia.

Claim 2

An apparatus for use in operating upon a cornea of an eye comprising: a light delivery optical system for delivering an ultraviolet laser beam emitted from a laser source onto the cornea; a diaphragm with a variable aperture, disposed in said light delivery optical system, for variably restricting an irradiation area of the laser beam; means for shifting the laser beam with respect to an optical axis of said light delivery optical system; means for rotating the laser beam about the optical axis of said light delivery optical system at each shifted position to ablate the cornea circularly; means for inputting information necessary for determining the shape of a post operative cornea; means for determining the ablation amount at each shifted position of the laser beam by said beam shifting means, based on the information input through said input means; means for controlling the laser source and action of the beam rotating means based on the ablation amount determined by said ablation amount determining means at each shifted position; and wherein said laser beam ablates the cornea of the eye to correct ametropia.

Claim 10

An apparatus for use in operating upon a cornea to correct ametropia by ablating the cornea with a laser beam comprising: a light delivery optical system including a movable reflective mirror for delivering an ultraviolet laser beam emitted from a laser source onto a cornea; a diaphragm with a variable aperture, disposed in said light delivery optical system, for restricting an irradiation area of the laser beam; means for shifting the laser beam with respect to an optical axis of said light delivery optical system by moving said reflective mirror; means for rotating the laser beam about the optical axis of said light delivery optical system; means for inputting information necessary for determining the shape of a post operative cornea; first memory means for storing the relation between a spherical correction amount and an ablation amount at each shifted position, which amounts are necessary for correcting a spherical refractive power by irradiating and rotating the laser beam about the optical axis of said light delivery optical system at each shifted position to ablate the cornea circularly and accumulate the circular ablation; second memory means for storing the relation between a cylindrical correction amount and the ablation amount at each shifted position so as to correct the cylindrical refractive power by accumulating the irradiation of the laser beam which is shifted by said beam shifting means, under the condition that the laser beam is rotated by said beam rotating means so that the shifting direction of said shifting means may coincide with the direction of the astigmatism axis; means for determining the ablation amount at each position of the laser beam based on the input information by said inputting means and said first memory means and said second memory means; and means for controlling movement of the laser source and said beam rotating means at each shifted position based on the ablation amount determined by said ablation amount determining means.

Claim 11

An apparatus for use in operating upon a cornea to correct ametropia by ablating the cornea with a laser beam comprising: a light delivery optical system including a movable reflective mirror for delivering an ultraviolet laser beam emitted from a laser source onto a cornea; a diaphragm with a variable aperture, disposed in said light delivery optical system, for restricting an irradiation area of the laser beam; means for shifting the laser beam with respect to an optical axis of said light delivery optical system by moving said reflective mirror; means for rotating the laser beam about the optical axis of said light delivery optical system; means for inputting information necessary for determining the shape of a post operative cornea; first memory means for storing the relation between a spherical correction amount and an ablation amount at each shifted position, which amounts are necessary for correcting a spherical refractive power by irradiating and rotating the laser beam about the optical axis of said light delivery optical system at each shifted position to ablate the cornea circularly and accumulate the circular ablation; second memory means for storing the relation between a cylindrical correction amount and the ablation amount at each shifted position so as to correct the cylindrical refractive power by accumulating the irradiation of the laser beam which is shifted by said beam shifting means, under the condition that the laser beam is rotated by said beam rotating means so that the shifting direction of said shifting means may coincide with the direction of the astigmatism axis; means for determining the ablation amount at each position of the laser beam based on the input information by said inputting means and said first memory means and said second memory means; and means for controlling movement of the laser source and said beam rotating means at each shifted position based on the ablation amount determined by said ablation amount determining means.

Claim 18

An apparatus for use in operating upon a cornea of an eye comprising: a light delivery optical system for delivering an ultraviolet laser beam emitted from a laser source onto the cornea; a diaphragm with a variable aperture, disposed in said light delivery optical system, for variably restricting an irradiation area of the laser beam; means for shifting the laser beam with respect to an optical axis of said light delivery optical system by moving a reflecting mirror of the laser beam; means for rotating the laser beam about the optical axis of said light delivery optical system at each shifted position to ablate the cornea circularly; means for inputting information necessary for determining the shape of a post-operative cornea; means for determining the ablation amount at each shifted position of the laser beam by said beam shifting means, based on the information input through said input means; means for controlling the laser source and action of the beam rotating means based on the ablation amount determined by said ablation amount determining means at each shifted position; and wherein said laser beam ablates the cornea of the eye to correct ametropia.

Claim 19

An apparatus for use in operating upon a cornea of an eye comprising: a light delivery optical system for delivering an ultraviolet laser beam emitted from a laser source onto the cornea; a diaphragm with a variable aperture, disposed in said light delivery optical system, for variably restricting an irradiation area of the laser beam; means for shifting the laser beam with respect to an optical axis of said light delivery optical system by moving a reflecting mirror of the laser beam; means for rotating the laser beam about the optical axis of said light delivery optical system at each shifted position to ablate the cornea circularly; means for inputting information necessary for determining the shape of a post-operative cornea; means for determining the ablation amount at each shifted position of the laser beam by said beam shifting means, based on the information input through said input means; means for controlling the laser source and action of the beam rotating means based on the ablation amount determined by said ablation amount determining means at each shifted position; and wherein said laser beam ablates the cornea of the eye to correct ametropia.