A compact system for performing laser ophthalmic surgery is disclosed. An embodiment of the system includes a mode-locked fiber oscillator-based ultra-short pulsed laser capable of producing laser pulses in the range of 1 nJ to 5 J at a pulse repetition rate of between 5 MHz and 25 MHz, a resonant optical scanner oscillating at a frequency of 200 Hz and 21000 Hz, a scan-line rotator, a movable XY-scan device, a z-scan device, and a controller configured to coordinate with the other components of the system to produce one or more desired incision patterns. The system also includes compact visualization optics for in-process monitoring using a beam-splitter inside the cone of a patient interface used to fixate the patient's eye during surgery. The system can be configured such that eye surgery is performed while the patient is either sitting upright, or lying on his or her back.

A method of verifying a laser scan at a predetermined location within an object includes imaging at least a portion of the object, the resulting image comprising the predetermined location; identifying the predetermined location in the image, thereby establishing an expected scan location of the laser scan in the image; performing a laser scan on the object by scanning a focal point of the laser beam in a scanned area; detecting a luminescence from the scanned area and identifying an actual scanned location within the image based on the detected luminescence; and determining whether the difference between the actual scanned location and the expected scan location is within a threshold value.

A full depth ophthalmic surgical system includes a femtosecond laser source and an optical coherence tomographer. The system is capable of performing surgical procedures along the entire length of the eye from the cornea to the retina. The optical system of the ophthalmic surgical system is optimized to focus the laser beam and imaging light in the vitreous humor of the eye. In some embodiments, the illumination light source and the scanning mirrors are imaged by the system's objective lens and the patient interface lens to locations near the pupil, to increase the volume of the vitreous humor reachable by the illumination light and laser beam. For procedures performed posterior to the lens, a method for calibrating the full depth ophthalmic surgical system is also provided. The system can be used to perform treatment in the vitreous humor, including treating floaters and liquification of the vitreous humor.

In an ophthalmic laser surgical system, a real-time optical coherence tomography (OCT) measurement method acquires OCT data during laser treatment. The treatment laser beam and OCT sample beam are generated simultaneously, and the optical delivery system scans them simultaneously in the eye tissue, where the focus of the treatment laser beam and the focus of the OCT beam coincide with each other in space. While both beams simultaneously scanned in the eye tissue, the OCT device detects returned OCT light from the sample during a data acquisition period, and generates an OCT A-scan based on the detected OCT light. Based on the A-scan, a controller determines a structure of the eye in a depth direction relative to the focus of the OCT beam, and controls the operations ophthalmic laser surgical system accordingly. One exemplary application is the formation of an arcuate corneal incision in cataract surgery.

An ophthalmological patient interface apparatus, having a coupling apparatus for mechanically coupling to an application head of an ophthalmological laser system, comprises a lens-element system which is arranged between the eye and the application head in the state coupled to the application head during the treatment of an eye, said lens-element system being coupled into the beam path from the projection lens to the eye. The lens-element system is configured to image a first focal area of the projection lens disposed upstream of the lens-element system in the beam path onto a second focal area in the eye disposed downstream of the lens-element system in the beam path, in such a way that a laser beam focused onto the first focal area by the projection lens causes tissue processing in the second focal area in the eye.

Embodiments of this invention generally relate to ophthalmic laser procedures and, more particularly, to systems and methods for photorefractive keratectomy. In an embodiment, an ophthalmic surgical laser system comprises a laser source generating a pulsed laser beam and a laser delivery system delivering the pulsed laser beam to a cornea of an eye. A patient interface couples to and constrains the eye relative to the laser delivery system. A controller controls the laser delivery system to perform an anterior surface volume dissection on the cornea.

Additive manufacturing techniques are used to form an artificial intra-ocular lens (IOL) directly inside the human eye. Small openings are formed in the cornea and lens capsule of the eye, and the crystalline lens is broken up and removed through the openings; then, a material is injected into the lens capsule through the openings, and the focal spot of a pulse laser beam is scanned in a defined pattern in the lens capsule, to transform the material in the vicinity of the laser focal spot to form the IOL in a layer-by-layer manner. In one embodiment, stereolithography techniques are used where a pulse UV laser source is used to photosolidify a photopolymer resin. The liquefied resin is injected into the eye through the openings, after which only part of the resin, having the shape of the desired IOL, is selectively cured with the UV laser beam, via progressive layer formation.

An ophthalmological patient interface apparatus (4), having a coupling apparatus (41) for mechanically coupling to an application head (3) of an ophthalmological laser system (10), comprises a lens-element system (44) which is arranged between the eye (2) and the application head (3) in the state coupled to the application head (3) during the treatment of an eye (2), said lens-element system being coupled into the beam path from the projection lens (30) to the eye (2). The lens-element system (44) is configured to image a first focal area (B) of the projection lens (30) disposed upstream of the lens-element system (44) in the beam path onto a second focal area (B*) in the eye (2) disposed downstream of the lens-element system (44) in the beam path, in such a way that a laser beam (L) focussed onto the first focal area (B) by the projection lens (30) causes tissue processing in the second focal area (B*) in the eye (2).

A device and a method for using laser energy for treatment of tissue, which can include generating short bursts of energy at a range of pulse repetition rates. The method comprises selective surface and/or three-dimensional interactions for therapeutic use and/or to modify or remove tissue from targets. The device and method can subsurface disruptions in tissue at selected depths and densities.

Laser assisted cataract surgery methods and devices utilize one or more treatment laser beams to create a shaped opening in the anterior lens capsule of the eye when performing a capsulorrhexis procedure. A light absorbing agent may be applied to the anterior lens capsule to facilitate laser thermal separation of tissue along a treatment beam path on the lens capsule. Relative or absolute reflectance from the eye, and optionally from a surgical contact lens, may be measured to confirm and optionally quantify the presence of the light absorbing agent, before the treatment beam is applied. Such measurements may be used to determine that sufficient light absorbing agent is present in the lens capsule so that transmission of the treatment beam through the capsule will be below a predetermined threshold deemed safe for the retina and other interior portions of the eye, and may also be used to determine that sufficient light absorbing agent is present to result in complete laser thermal separation of the anterior capsule along the treatment beam path. Visualization patterns produced with one or more target laser beams may be projected onto the lens capsule tissue to aid in the capsulorrhexis procedure. In addition or alternatively, virtual visualization patterns may presented on a display integrated with a laser assisted cataract surgery device to aid in the procedure. The visual axis of the eye may be determined, during surgery for example, with a laser beam on which the patient is fixated. The orientation of a toric IOL may be assessed during or after placement by observing the reflection from the back of the eye of a laser beam on which the patient is fixated. The devices disclosed herein may be attached to or integrated with microscopes.