Abstract: A stabilizer and method of lens capsule retraction. The stabilizer includes a shaft, a stabilizing bend extending from the shaft, and a shank terminating at a termination end. The bend is between the shank and the shaft and is configured to provide a hook-like configuration. A distance between a trough of the stabilizing bend and the termination end is between 1.6 mm and 5.0 mm, preferably between 2.0 mm and 3.0 mm.

Abstract: A phacoemulsification apparatus includes a needle that is hollow and terminates in an evacuation port and has a straight portion and a bent or angulated portion spaced from the evacuation port. The needle defines an inner channel that narrows from the evacuation port before, at or beyond the angulated portion. The outer surface of the needle is also configured to converge before, at or beyond the bent or angulated portion. A flexible infusion sleeve surrounds the needle longitudinally along the straight portion of the needle and terminates at an area proximal to or in the vicinity of the angulated portion.

Abstract: Varying flow rate and/or the fluid pressure head through a surgical instrument by selecting which of a plurality of fluid lines will supply fluid through the infusion line of the instrument. The fluid lines connect with supply ports of a common connector that has a common discharge port in fluid connection with the infusion line. The fluid lines are each in fluid connection with either a common fluid source, fluid sources at different elevations, or fluid sources at different or the same pressures. Flow control may be based on opening and closing of valves in the flow lines or operating and stopping operation of pumps or vacuum devices. A controller may determine which flow control to implement based on sensing of pressure changes in the eye or on known capacities of the pumps or vacuum devices. The sensing may be effected with a pressure transducer within the eye, but spaced from the infusion and aspiration lines of the surgical instrument.

Abstract: A surgical knife has a blade portion including a sharp edge disposed in a first plane and a dull portion offset from the first plane by a selected amount substantially equal to the amount of desired lengthening. When the blade is inserted into a previously-formed incision in tissue and moved in the direction of desired lengthening, the sharp edge cuts the tissue to lengthen the incision until the dull portion abuts against a wall of the incision to prevent further travel of the blade. The dull portion thus acts as a "stop" which prevents further travel of the blade beyond a desired point, enabling controlled lengthening of the incision.

Abstract: A method of cutting and removing a wrapping from an intraocular lens implant within the eye. The method employs either a laser beam to effect the curing or an ultrasonic vibratory probe to effect the cutting. Once cut, the lens is free to unroll within the eye. The wrapping is then removed from the eye.

Abstract: A support for reinforcing a fluid infusion tube to prevent it from kinking during a surgical operation. The support runs to the distal end of the tube and is either embedded in the wall of the tube, adhered or heat sealed to the tube either on the tube's interior surface or on the exterior surface, or loosely retained within the lumen. The support may be coiled about the exterior or interior of the tube to provide the desired rigidity to prevent kinking.

Abstract: An apparatus essentially consisting of an aspiration conduit, a pump, and a pressure transducer and logic console which senses vacuum level fluctuations in the aspiration conduit. The aspiration conduit is connected to a surgical cavity. The pump creates a vacuum in the pre-pump aspiration conduit and transports the fluid and/or tissue material from the surgical cavity, through the aspiration conduit and into a collection container. The logic console responds to a predetermined rate of decrease in vacuum in the pre-pump aspiration conduit and causes an electric signal to be sent to 1) the pump, which upon receiving such signal, reverses its action and/or: 2) an electromechanical valve located along the aspiration conduit, which upon receiving such signal acts to occlude the aspiration conduit and terminate the removal of tissue or fluid from the surgical site. The reversal of rotation prevents the occurrence of a fluid surge which would result in the collapse of the surgical cavity.

Abstract: A surgical instrument for removing tissue, such as a cataract, from a patient's body includes a hollow vibrating needle surrounded by one or two hollow infusion sleeves. Methods and apparatus for reducing friction between the surface(s) of the sleeve(s) and the outer surface of the needle and/or surrounding ocular tissue are disclosed. Such friction reduction dramatically reduces the amount of heat generated during surgery, thus reducing the possibility of thermal damage to tissue.

Abstract: A surgical instrument for removing a cataract from a patient's eye including a hollow vibrating needle surrounded by two hollow infusion sleeves. The outer sleeve conforms to the incision in the eye and the inner sleeve prevents the outer sleeve from collapsing onto the hollow, vibrating needle.

Abstract: A surgical instrument for removing a cataract from a patient's eye including a hollow vibrating needle surrounded by two hollow infusion sleeves. The outer sleeve conforms to the incision in the eye and the inner sleeve prevents the outer sleeve from collapsing onto the hollow, vibrating needle.

Abstract: A surgical instrument for removing a cataract from a patient's eye including a hollow vibratable needle surrounded by a hollow infusion sleeve which conforms to the surgical incision and thereby prevents leakage from the incision, and also with means preventing the hollow infusion sleeve from collapsing against the hollow vibratable needle. A second embodiment including a hollow vibratable needle surrounded by two hollow infusion sleeves with conformity of the outer sleeve to the incision and means for preventing the infusion sleeve from collapsing against the hollow vibratable needle.

Abstract: A method of implanting an intraocular lens in a human eye, includes the steps of (a) making a first incision in the eye not greater than 2.5 mm to allow a cataract lens to be extracted therefrom and a rolled intraocular lens to be inserted therethrough, the intraocular lens having a positioning hole for permitting positioning of the lens in the eye; (b) making a second incision in the eye of approximately 1 mm and spaced from the first incision to allow an intraocular lens positioning tool to be inserted therethrough; (c) pushing a rolled intraocular lens having a wrapping about at least a portion of the rolled intraocular lens into the eye through the first incision; (d) cutting the wrapping from the rolled intraocular lens in the eye so that the rolled intraocular lens unrolls in the eye; (e) removing the cut wrapping from the eye through the first incision while the lens position is maintained; and (f) final positioning of the unrolled intraocular lens in the eye.

Abstract: An intraocular lens consisting of a relatively soft plastic capable of being folded, and a harder plastic mounted on, or in, the relatively soft plastic, and wherein the relatively harder plastic resists folding when the soft plastic is folded, the lens further comprising one or more haptics attached to the harder plastic for retaining the lens in a selected location in the eye.

Abstract: An intracular lens implant including a lens centered on a lens axis and the lens body having a plurality of separate sections to permit initial separate introduction of the respective sections into the eyeball through an incision smaller than that which would be needed for the introduction of the complete lens body. Means are provided for holding the assembled lens body in a predetermined position in the eye. One of the sections is substantially C-shaped and another is a substantially circular section, with each of these sections having surfaces which face one another, and means are provided to hold the sections relative to each other.